Coronavirus cases in Nigeria on Wednesday increased from three to eight fuelling fears of the epidemic of the disease in the country.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, at a press conference in Abuja, said four of the five new cases were in Lagos State, while one was in Ekiti State.
Ehanire said this just as Lagos and Ogun state governments banned gatherings of over 50 people.
It was gathered that the American, who infected the Ekiti case with the virus, might have died of the disease.
But the state government said the American died of complications as test conducted on him was inconclusive.
Coronavirus was first recorded in Nigeria on February 27 when an Italian businessman, who was on a visit to Lafarge Africa Plc, Ewekoro, Ogun State, was diagnosed with the disease and taken to Lagos State, where he is currently being treated.
The second coronavirus case was a Nigerian, who had contact with the Italian and was isolated in Ogun State. Although he tested positive twice, subsequent tests were negative.
On Tuesday, the Federal Government said a 30-year-old woman, who returned to the country on Friday from the United Kingdom, was diagnosed with coronavirus.
In Abuja, on Wednesday, the minister of health said a mother and her six-week-old baby were among the new five confirmed cases.
The minister said, “The Federal Ministry of Health unfortunately confirms five new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria within the last 36 hours, bringing total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to eight.
“Of the five new positive cases, three arrived from the United States, while two came in from the United Kingdom. We are still collating information on the travellers; but we know that two of the three from the US are Nigerians – a mother and child – making the six-week-old baby the youngest COVID-19 patient we have, and the third person is an American national, who crossed the land border and became the first COVID-19 case not arriving by air. The two cases from the UK are Nigerians.
“A detailed travel history of each person is being compiled and contacts are currently being traced, to identify persons who have recently been in touch with anyone.”
When asked to confirm the case being reported from Katsina State by the state government, the minister said that he had yet to be briefed on the case.
The minister said that the Lagos Infectious Disease Hospital had 100 standard bed spaces with provision for expansion while the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital had 12 beds. He however said that there was provision for fall back.
“We have teaching hospitals and general hospitals where we have medical directors as members of the planning committee. They have been told to make beds available at short notices and train nurses and doctors.”
On the provision of emergency fund by the National Health Act, Ehanire said such fund might not be readily available but noted that the Federal Government had made available more than N1bn with more coming from donors.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said at the briefing that irrespective of where travellers would be coming to Nigeria, they must self-isolate.
Director of Port Health Services, Morenike Alex-Okoh, lamented that one of the challenges faced by the officials was that passengers often gave wrong phone numbers, making contact tracing difficult for officials.
