Ololade Adeyanju/
The index Coronavirus case in Nigeria, an Italian, who is a consultant to Lafarge Africa PLC, may have had direct contact with at least three people in Lagos after arriving Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, while addressing journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, today.
The unnamed Italian, who arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from Milan, Italy en route Istanbul on Turkish Airlines on Monday reportedly departed for Ogun State the following day after spending the night at an undisclosed hotel.
He said the victim had developed fever and was treated at the clinic located inside Lafarge facility before he was rushed to Lagos on Wednesday when his condition grew worse.
“In the last 12 hours, the first case of COVID – 19 (Coronavirus) has been identified in Nigeria and the individual visited Ogun State. The said individual is from Italy, a consultant to the Lafarge, Ewekoro factory.
“He arrived Nigeria on Monday, 24th of February at about 9pm. Before arriving in Ogun State, he had made contact with three people, spent the night in Lagos and arrived on Tuesday morning in Ogun State. He stayed at a guest house and at about 4-5pm on Wednesday, he developed body ache and fever,” the Commissioner stated.
She added, “The staff clinic of Lafarge were very sensitive to the case. They responded speedily and contacted Lagos, they had a high index of suspicion and once they contacted Lagos, the protocol kicked in and the individual was transferred to Lagos in a closed ambulance according to protocol.”
Coker disclosed that the entire production facility of Larfarge Africa Plc, in Ewekoro has been quarantined, while a team of epidemiologists have commenced line listing to detect all contacts the victim made during his stay in the state.
She however, said it would be premature to put a number to the contacts he made in Ogun State “since the case was just confirmed today.”
He assured that every single contact with the victim would be identified.
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