LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) – An Italian man who has been confirmed as Nigeria’s first coronavirus case after arriving from Milan was in the country for almost two full days, traveling through Lagos and visiting another state before being isolated.
The case is the first in sub-Saharan Africa. Authorities fear the
virus could spread quickly in a region where health systems are already
overburdened with cases of malaria, measles, Ebola and other infectious
diseases.
Lagos, with 20 million people, is the biggest city in
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. The West African country, with a
population of some 200 million people, has a shortage of doctors and
hospitals are often poorly maintained.
The Italian man works for cement company Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO.LG) in the southwestern state of Ogun, the company said in a statement. It said it had identified people who had “direct contact” with him before carrying out “isolation, quarantine and disinfection protocol.”
The
Ogun state governor, in a separate media briefing, said 28 people had
been placed in quarantine by the company the man worked for, although he
did not mention it by name.
The case has prompted a scramble by
Nigerian authorities to try to “meet and observe” all passengers who
arrived on the same flight as the man and to identify the places he
visited before being hospitalized.
“We have started working to
identify all the contacts of the person since he entered Nigeria and
even those who were with him on the aircraft,” Health Minister Osagie
Ehanire told reporters on Friday in the capital, Abuja.
The
Italian, whose country has been hit harder hit by the virus than any
other in Europe, arrived on Feb. 24 on a Turkish Airlines flight that
had a connection in Istanbul, said Lagos state commissioner for health,
Akin Abayomi.
After spending the night in a hotel near the
airport, he went on Feb. 25 to his place of work in neighboring Ogun
state, and stayed there until he developed a fever and body aches on the
afternoon of Feb. 26, Abayomi told a news conference.
He was then transferred to a high containment facility in Yaba, Lagos state.
Ehanire
said the infection was confirmed on Feb. 27 by the Virology Laboratory
of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and that the man was now
quarantined and doing well.
Turkish Airlines did not immediately comment on the case. There are no confirmed cases in Turkey.
Nigerian stocks fell 1.63% to their lowest level in two months on Friday following the announcement of the coronavirus case.
The
spread of the new coronavirus from China has hit global financial
markets, and Nigeria’s economy is at risk from the tumbling price of
oil, which accounts for 90% of its foreign exchange earnings.
The
latest World Health Organization figures indicate over 82,000 people
have been infected, with over 2,700 deaths in China and 57 deaths in 46
other countries.
LABORATORY NETWORK
Officials from the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are heading to Lagos to help
address the case, and have activated its national Emergency Operations
Centre.
International health organization said they were working alongside their Nigerian counterparts.
Africa
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said it is in
contact with NCDC and is working with the WHO and other partners to
support the Nigerian government’s response.
In a statement it
said it had deployed one epidemiologist to Nigeria to support assessment
and response to the outbreak, and has shipped 1,000 COVID-19 laboratory
test kits to the country.
And the WHO, which has said it
already has experts in Nigeria, has identified Nigeria as one of 13
“high priority” countries in Africa. Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of
WHO’s emergencies program, told a Geneva news conference on Friday that
Nigeria had “well-tested mechanisms for dangerous pathogens.”
He
said Nigeria was able to utilize a laboratory network that had been
developed to handle cases of Lassa fever, monkeypox and influenza.
Schools and offices in Lagos provided hand sanitizer to people entering buildings on Friday.
“There’s
a run on suppliers at the moment for hand sanitizer and masks,” said
Andrew Garza, chief operating officer of Lifestores Healthcare, a
Lagos-based health technology company that provides inventory services
to local pharmacies.
Garza said some stockists had sold out of hand sanitizer.
Source:- Reuters
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