Coronavirus: Lagos state govt declares 2 Nigerians who had contact with the infected Italian wanted.
The Lagos State Government has said that the search for two remaining passengers who flew on the Turkish airline with the index case is still ongoing and it is in fact a matter of urgent National Security.
Commissioner for Health Prof. Akin Abayomi during a press briefing on Monday urged members of the public to assist in the search of the passengers whose names he gave as Enwelunta Godfrey Obumnore and Sadeeq Abiodun Salami both males.
“I appeal to members of the public who know or have any information about these 2 contacts to reach @LSMOH through the State epidemiologist on +234 802 316 9485. This is a matter of national security, @followlasg needs your cooperation on this matter.”
On the secondary case, the commissioner said that the patient who recently tested positive for coronavirus will be managed at the Biosecurity Facility of the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba.
He explained that the patient who tested positive to coronavirus is one of the 40 persons who had close contact with the index case.
According to him, the 40 persons had been in isolation at Lafarge health facility in Ewekoro in Ogun State since the confirmation of the index case.
Abayomi said the second confirmed case of coronavirus indicated the first person-to-person transmission in Nigeria.
He noted that Lagos State Government through the state Ministry of Health has resolved to take responsibility for the management of the secondary case because the state has the required facility and equipment for proper management of highly-infectious diseases.
The commissioner said the resolve to take responsibility for the management of the patient was because Lagos State is not ready to take chances with the spread of the disease especially when the proximity of both states is taken into consideration.
The commissioner tasked members of the public not to panic stating that the government will continue to respond swiftly and take necessary actions to contain the spread of the disease.
He noted the fact that the patient had been previously isolated to limit the number of possible contacts he must have had.
“The good news is that we have identified him early enough. We are not taking chances and we do not wait for the suspected case to develop symptoms before we carry out the test. We have also isolated all those that have had contacts with the patient,” Abayomi said.
These two wanted Nigerians boarded the same plane with the index case (Italian) but gave wrong information about themselves to airport officials making contact tracing difficult.
