The Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has announced the confirmation of the second case of Covid-19 in Nigeria.
Dr. Ehanire made this known at a Ministerial press briefing to update on covid-19, recently, at the University Teaching Hospital, (UBTH), Benin, Edo State.
According to the Health Minister, the second case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, who had no significant clinical symptoms. This brings the total number of confirmed covid-19 cases in Nigeria to two (2).
The Minister pointed out that two new development have taken place since the last briefing in Abuja on the Covid-19 in Nigeria. The first was that a team of researchers from various institutions in Nigeria led by top scientists of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Lagos, combined their effort to successfully perform the genome sequencing of the Covid-19 strain that the index case brought to Nigeria was proved it to be a match with virus circulating in Italy and Wuhan, China.
He stated that it is the first time the sequence of this virus has been performed in Africa adding that the result has been shared with International Authorities and the Director General, World Health Organisation (WHO), who lauded the Nigerian Scientists for this great achievement.
He also hinted that the second development is that contact tracing and monitoring in respect of the covid19 index case presently receiving treatment in Lagos, has been diligently and conscientiously pursued since February 27, 2020. He explained that the 40 and 20 contact persons in Lagos and Ogun States respectively, are under isolation and have remained free of any symptoms.
Speaking further, the Minister informed that the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), in following the standard best practice, decided to test these persons for possible presence of Covid-19 in their system on March 8, 2020 and from this effort, one of them has been confirmed positive.Ehanire further mentioned that, steps taken were based on recent experiences from other Countries, and advise from the Nigeria Centre Disease Control for (NCDC), that samples be taken from all contacts of the index case for testing “that was how these two cases were detected”
He advised Nigerians to maintain personal hygiene, ensure good respiratory hygiene by covering their mouth whenever coughing or sneezing and discard the tissue immediately. He also implored the public to call the NCDC toll lines which run 24 hours a day if one notices any serious challenge in his\her breathing, coughing or running temperature with these numbers 080097000000, 080097000001, 080097000002 up to 080097000010 for quick and rapid response.
More so, he called on the public to stay informed on latest developments about Covid-19 through the official channels of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Ogun State Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Federal Ministry of Health.
Enefaa Bob-Manuel
Head (Media & Public Relations)
