FLASH: Italian man who brought coronavirus to Nigeria has been discharged, takes pictures with the medical team.

The Index patient of coronavirus, the Italian man, who was the first COVID19 patient in Lagos has now tested NEGATIVE and freed to go home.

He thanked everyone for the care given to him by staff of the infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba and all members of EOC.

Italian man who brought coronavirus to Nigeria has been discharged
Italian man (arrowed), Prof Akin Abayomi, and members of the medical team.

The executive governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced this on his verified Twitter handle on Friday.

He wrote:

As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos, I am glad to inform you that the index case; the Italian gentleman is now negative.

Through a combined effort of Lagos, Ogun State and Fed Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact.

Infected Italian with COVID19 test negative and discharged
Italian lying on the bed with medical team

This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies.

However we now have several new imported cases and we hope we can apply the same contact tracing strategy along with social distancing to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from these new cases.

The index patient consented to donating one unit of white blood (plasma) before he was discharged today. The blood plasma is rich in antibody proteins that target #COVID19 virus.

The white blood plasma is frozen in our Bio-bank and will be useful in handling new cases.

The blood plasma will be beneficial for the treatment of new patients in the absence of a defined therapeutic drug for COVID19 yet.

The patient appreciated the exceptional care and support given to him by staff of the infectious Disease Hospital,Yaba and all members of the EOC.

The EOC team was extremely happy to bid the patient farewell. Once again, we will like to convey the enthusiasm of the team to do the very best possible in handling incidents of COVID19.

READ ALSO: Man become unconscious after taking overdose of Chloroquine for coronavirus.

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