Nigeria yesterday confirmed that the dreaded coronavirus diseases has been exported to her soil, courtesy of an Italian that arrived the country on Monday evening of 24 February 2020 from Milan, Italy.
The entry of coronavirus into the country has an eerie resemblance to Ebola disease outbreak that was also a cross-border/international travel import.
Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said that this index case was detected at Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
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The laboratory, he said, is part of the network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
“The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms and is being managed at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba, Lagos” the statement said.
At the last count, 80,000 infections have been diagnosed in China alone – where the disease first broke out – with nearly 3,000 confirmed deaths.
Nigeria is the 46th country in the world to report the disease which has infected 3,700 persons and caused 57 deaths outside of China, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO is seriously considering upgrading Coronavirus to a pandemic, in order to reflect its rapid spread on countries and on the numbers of people that are being affected all over the world.
“We have already started working to identify all the contacts of the patient, since he entered Nigeria,” said Ehanire.
The minister said authorities have been strengthening measures to ensure an outbreak in Nigeria is controlled and contained quickly.
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