The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has announced that another case of Coronavirus has been confirmed in Nigeria.
The new confirmed infected patient was said to be one of those under isolation, who had contact with the Italian that brought the virus to Nigeria.
“On 8th March 2020, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts. It is my duty therefore to announce a new case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria. The newly confirmed case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, but he has no significant clinical symptoms. This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria today to two.” announced the Minister of Health.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control also confirmed this in a tweet on Monday. “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.”
An excerpt of the minister’s press conference reads:
The other development is that contact tracing and monitoring in respect of the coronavirus index case presently receiving treatment in Lagos, has been diligently and conscientiously pursued since 27 February when the case was first diagnosed.
As you know, 40 persons in Ogun and 20 in Lagos are under isolation and have remained free of any symptoms since. Nevertheless, the Federal Ministry of Health, following best practice, decided to test these persons for possible presence of coronavirus in their systems.
On 8th March 2020, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts. It is my duty therefore to announce a new case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria. The newly confirmed case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, but he has no significant clinical symptoms. This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria today to two.
I repeat that the newly confirmed case in Nigeria is not a new importation, but a contact of the Index case, who has since been in isolation and was under clinical follow up. He presently does not have any clinical symptoms, is comfortable and in care at Infectious Disease Hospital, Lagos.
On the case reported in the US of Nigerian origin, we are in touch with colleagues at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and here in Abuja. The case visited Lagos in February 2020. However, given the timelines between the time he was in Nigeria briefly and when he became ill, the likelihood that he was infected in Lagos is very low.
The Federal Ministry of Heath, and Lagos and Ogun States Health Ministries assure citizens of our commitment to do all needed to control spread of this outbreak. Since the first case was confirmed in Nigeria on 27th of February 2020, the National Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) in Abuja, continues to work closely with Lagos and Ogun State EOCs to coordinate response activities.
