Coronavirus: Here’s an Update on all that has Happened since the Report of the Virus in Lagos

On Friday, it was reported that an Italian businessman who arrived in Lagos at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Milan, Italy, having travelled through Turkey, fell ill and tested positive to the coronavirus after which he was taken to Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba.

Prior to the time the victim tested positive to the virus, he spent a night in a hotel around the Lagos airport before leaving for business in Ogun State in the morning, Punch reports.

Just within two days since the news of the coronavirus infected patient in Lagos broke, a lot has happened, from false reports to the hike in prices of personal hygiene products in stores.

We must all ensure to stay calm and take precautionary measures.

Here’s an update on everything that has happened since the news of the victim broke.

The Lagos and Ogun State government has identified at least 100 persons who had contact with the infected victim and precautionary measures have been carried out as swiftly as possible in preventing the spread of the virus in other parts of the state and Nigeria at large.

In an interview with Channels TV on Saturday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi who was at the Emergency Operation Centre at the Mainland Hospital in Yaba, stated that, “By Saturday, his symptoms had subsided. He hasn’t developed any respiratory symptoms and we are quite happy about that because if he has respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing, which makes the disease more contagious”.

He added that the 100 persons the victim had contact with were being jointly monitored by Lagos and Ogun states.

In another interview with Arise TV, Akin Abayomi said the authorities had identified the hotel room where the Italian patient resided in on Monday night. He said, “We’re going there this morning (Saturday) to decontaminate the room and the entire hotel. We will identify all the people who had contact with him in the hotel,” he said.

An earlier report revealed that the victim attempted to escape due to the poor state of the isolation centre Coronavirus patient, Punch disclosed that state government has moved the victim to a “better facility that would make him comfortable”.

So far so good, renovation is ongoing at the hospital. Akin Abayomi stated the renovation was to improve the internal facilities at the centre, adding that, “Work has been completed in one ward, it can hold 14 patients; the tents are complete, they can hold another 20 patients each; another ward will be completed in another two days and that will hold another 14 patients. If we get another 10 patients tonight, we are still okay. It’s not the construction in its entirety; we are just refurbishing the facilities to make sure anybody we bring is in a comfortable position.”

A report by Channels TV states that the Plateau State quarantine three Chinese nationals on Saturday, while on Friday, Cross River placed five foreigners under observation.

The reported case of Plateau State, which was confirmed by Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjang, has it that the Chinese who are workers in a mining site in Wase flew into Abuja on Wednesday and have since been quarantined in Wase town for the suspected case of the virus.

He said, “The problem that we have is that there is a tendency for people to think that investigation or quarantine, as the case may be, means that there is an outbreak of the virus. As far as Plateau case is concerned, there has been no known case of this virus on the Plateau; we just took proactive measures to make sure that we place them (the Chinese nationals) under investigation and that will take 14 days.”

In Cross River, the state Commissioner for Health, Beta Edu said, “We profiled five foreigners who came in from locations that have recorded the virus and they came in through Lagos that morning (Friday). We got their biodata and asked them to self-isolate. And of course, we gave them the thermometer and got their contacts. We have been following up with them. None of them has shown any symptom so far. Two of the foreigners are from Europe, one from India and two from China.”

She added that “Our isolation centre is ready and protocols have been sent to all health workers. Special protective equipment has been sent to all health workers, the army, paramilitary agencies and private practitioners across the state,” she said.

With the increase in the death toll and spread of the virus in affected countries, Francis Faduyile, the President of the Nigeria Medical Association in an interview said, “Anybody coming to Nigeria through any of our point of entries should be thoroughly screened. We should have a high index of suspicion in our hospitals. More importantly, is the awareness we create among the people. People should learn to stay at least 1.5 meters away from someone who is sneezing and those who sneeze must cover their mouth and nose. We should be conscious of washing our hands and we need to protect ourselves more.”

Hopefully, the precautionary measures put in place by the government and health officials will help curb the spread of the virus, panic and will put an end to the outbreak.

Let’s stay calm and remember to protect ourselves!