…As LASG declares 2 suspected passengers  of Turkish Airlines wanted

A second individual has tested positive to the coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country, as confirmed by the federal government on Monday 8th of March, 2020, by health workers.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, broke the sad news at a press conference in Edo state, stating that the new and second confirmed case was an Ogun state contact of the index case, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Nigeria to two.

“The newly confirmed case 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, he is comfortable and in care at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Lagos,” Ehanire emphasized.

Since the first confirmed case, the ministry has embarked on contact tracing and monitoring in respect of the coronavirus index case presently receiving treatment in Lagos, the minister said. “We have been diligently and conscientiously pursued contacts of the index case since the 27th of February. So far, 40 persons in Ogun and 20 in Lagos are under isolation and have remained free of any symptoms,” he added.

Nevertheless, the minister said the federal ministry of health, following best practice, decided to test these persons, for the possible presence of the virus in their systems, adding that on the 8th of March, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts.

“All other contacts of the index case in Ogun and Lagos will remain in isolation and testing will be carried out on those not yet tested, including some in other states,” he added.

He however assured that the federal ministry of health, the Lagos and Ogun state ministries of health, are committed to doing all that is needed to control the spread of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Lagos state government has disclosed the names of the two suspected passengers of Turkish Airlines, who flew, with the Italian man, from Istanbul to Lagos on the 24th of February.

The Lagos state commissioner for health, Prof. Akin Abayomi who disclosed their names as Enwelunta Obumnore Godfrey (Male) and Salami Abiodun Sadeeq (Male), said the government is still in search of them.

Abayomi said, “We have tried to find the two passengers on the Turkish flight TK 625 and we are yet to find them. I appeal to the two individuals to reach out to the ministry.

“Please we need to contact you and you need to be in touch with the Ministry of Health. We have been trying to reach you by the address you put on your forms and by the numbers but none of those numbers are working. it is vitally important that you reach out to us with the numbers that are generally available with the press, or to the Federal Ministry of Health or to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).”

Speaking on the new case, the commissioner said those in contact with the second case of COVID-19 will begin a 14-day isolation process.

He said, “the secondary COVID-19 patient has had contact with a few people and those contacts will begin a 14-day isolation process.”

According to him, the contacts in Ogun state that are working at the Lafarge factory in Ewekoro who came in contact with the index case had been under isolation in Ewekoro, Ogun State.

“As per our protocol, we have the capacity to test so that we can pick up whether any of those in isolation are turning positive and we have tested the 40 individuals in isolation in Ewekoro at the Lafarge factory because that is the group that had close contact with the index case.

“Out of the 40, we detected one positive and that individual happens to be spending a lot of time with the index case by the virtue of his job, that demonstrates the first transmission for the index case and the good news is that we have the individual under surveillance so that significantly minimises the chance of transmission to a large number of people.

“In consultation with the governor (Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu), we agreed that we receive the second patient at the Yaba facility where we have the appropriate infrastructure, the trained staff and the equipment to manage the infection.”

Back in Yaba, the commissioner said they have been seeing a couple of people every day who are travellers from countries considered high risk and so far, they have isolated them for 24 hours. “We have tested 12 and they are negative and they have gone home.

“Right now, we have three in isolation in Yaba and we should have their results later this afternoon and if they are negative, they will go home and if anyone is positive, then we will admit them,” he added.

On the index case, the commissioner said he is doing very well. “I see him almost every day, he is now sitting on his balcony and has no fever, the only reason is still with us is that his tests are still positive, that means that he is still excreting the virus but his body has overcome the virus and with time, he will eliminate the virus and soon as he eliminates the virus then he is free to go back to the community,” he said.

He said there is no cause for alarm as the state is handling the case as other states with the federal government and the NCDC.

“Our approach is to keep life and business going as usual and to make sure we minimise the opportunity for this virus to spread from person to person,” he added.