The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, says the newly confirmed case of coronavirus was discovered in Ogun State.

He explained that the case was one of the persons who had contact with the index case, an Italian whose case was confirmed in late February.

“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,” Ehanire told a press conference on Monday.

He briefed reporters at the boardroom of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital in Edo State, where he gave an update on coronavirus infection in the country.

According to the minister, Nigeria has adopted some important response strategies at the containment stage since the outbreak in China and subsequent spread to other countries.

He listed the measures to include identifying all contacts, ensure their strict isolation, and following up daily with checks for any symptoms of the disease.

Ehanire recalled that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) advised that samples should be taken from all contacts of the Index case for testing, following the recent experience from other countries.

“It is in this process that this new case was detected,” he said, stressing, “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.

“Recent studies in China have shown that increased surveillance, self-isolation and, in particular, contact tracing do reduce the risk of spread because further opportunities for transmission of the virus by the infected patient in the community are limited,” the minister added.

Ehanire said all other contacts of the index case in Ogun and Lagos would remain in isolation and testing would be carried out on those not yet tested, including some in other states. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy of Channels TV)

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