Coronavirus: Nigeria confirms second case

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Enahire, has confirmed a second case of coronavirus patient in Nigeria.

Enahire, who disclosed this on Monday while speaking with journalists in Benin, Edo State, revealed that the second case was a man who had contact with the Italian who tested positive for coronavirus in Lagos.

Ehanire said the patient, who has been in isolation in the last two weeks tested positive on March 8 and is now under quarantine.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said in a later tweet that the new case had contact with the Italian in Ogun state.

“This second case is a contact of the index case, in Ogun state. The new case has been in isolation and was tested as part of our strategy to test all contacts of the index case,” he said.

“Since the first case was confirmed in Lagos, the NCDC has been supporting the Ogun State Emergency Operations Centre to respond accordingly. We urge the public not to panic. You can protect yourself using these six steps”.

The first index case, an Italian, flew into the country on February 24.

He slept at a hotel in Lagos, before moving to Lafarge Africa Cement premises in Ewekoro Ogun state, the next day.

He tested positive for the disease two days after and 39 people who had contact with the Italian, who is receiving treatment in Lagos, were also quarantined.

Since beginning of the outbreak in China and subsequent spread to other countries, one of the important response strategies at the containment stage, has been to identify all contacts, ensure their strict isolation and to follow up daily with checks for any symptoms of the disease.

Following recent experience from other countries and evidence from newly published studies on non-symptomatic infections, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, advised that samples should be taken from all contacts of the Index case for testing. It is in this process that this new case was detected.