The Coronavirus patient reported in Nigeria visited Ogun State, according to Akin Abayomi, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State.
According to information provided by the government, the Italian visited Ogun State for a business meeting a day after his arrival in Lagos.
The patient, an unnamed Italian, arrived in Lagos, Nigeria was reported ill on 26th February and was transferred to Lagos State Biosecurity Facilities for isolation and testing, where he was confirmed positive for Coronavirus.
“We have a traveller that began his journey in Milan on Monday, 24th February. He transited through Instanbul on Turkish Airlines and arrived in Lagos on Monday night,” Lagos State commissioner for health Prof akin Abayomi said at a press conference on Friday.
The patient spent a night in a hotel very close to the airport before he went to Ogun State for the business meeting.
“He carried out business in Ogun State within the confines of that company on Tuesday and in the early part of Wednesday.
“By afternoon, he started to develop symptoms for high fever and body pains.”
Abayomi said the initial symptoms shown were investigated by at the medical facility of the company he visited.
“He immediately he arrived, he was put straight into isolation and the appropriate test was ordered. Within hours, we received the signal.”
He said the government has started tracing his movement from Lagos to Ogun and people he might have had contact with since his arrival in Lagos.
Abayomi said the state has an 80-bed facility to handle emergency and that it has the capacity to expand the facility.
This is not the first time the state will be dealing with a health emergency of this nature.
Recall Lagos also had the first case of the Ebola virus disease in 2014 and dealt with it, but lost an iconic medical doctor, Stella Adadevoh as she was the first contact.
While Ebola has a higher mortality rate, its infectivity is not as high as the Coronavirus, code-named COVID-19.
