159 passengers boarded plane with the infected Italian – Prof Akin Abayomi
Prof Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health today disclosed that about 159 passengers boarded plane from Italy with the index case of coronavirus in Nigeria.
This is coming amidst fears of people who were in the same plane with the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Nigeria (Italian) might not have been fully identified and quarantined.
Abayomi who revealed that they have identified some of those who had contact with the index case of coronavirus in Nigeria added that the center is still investigating possible transmission of the virus even though the 6 persons who had direct contact with the Italian have been quarantined. He however lamented that some passengers gave false information to the airport officials making contact tracing difficult.
Speaking with Newsmen, Professor Abayomi said: “There were 159 passengers in the aircraft and six people that came in contact with him at the airport. There are 25 people who came in contact with him at the factory; there were two drivers and an ambulance driver.
“We have quarantined those identified so far at our medical facilities and some of them at home. We are calling them twice a day to check if they are okay. If they develop symptoms, we will bring them to our bio-security facility for test.
“We have identified all of these people except some of the people on the aircraft who have either gone back to Europe and other states. Some of them gave us false information on the phone.
“We are still trying to find the remaining passengers on that aircraft every day. Our contact list is over 100 persons and this number is increasing every day.”
The Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case in Lagos State, Nigeria. The case, which was confirmed on the 27th of February 2020, is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020.
The case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020. He was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.
Source:
Informationng
NCDC
Featured Image: Independent Newspapers
