Nigeria’s health minister, Osagie Ehanire, said the first case in the region was an Italian citizen who worked in Nigeria and had returned from Italy to Lagos on 25 February.
The Nigerian health ministry said on Friday it has confirmed a coronavirus case in Lagos state. The case which was confirmed on 27/02/2020 is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020, the health ministry said in a on Twitter.
The patient is clinically stable with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos, the ministry said.
Egypt had the first case of Covid-19 in Africa, announced on 14 February. Algeria declared it had a case this month, an Italian adult who arrived in the country on 17 February. That prompted the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, to warn that the “window of opportunity the continent has had to prepare for coronavirus disease is closing.”
The first case was reported in Wuhan Province of China in December 2019 and confirmed to be Coronavirus on 7 January 2020. Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, the new disease has spread swiftly, despite massive efforts to contain the spread by keeping people in quarantine.
Expert says it will be “quite a challenge” for African nation’s health systems to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
Nigeria and five other African countries now have the capacity to diagnose coronavirus, according to WHO. In Nigeria, the Federal Government has deployed health experts at various points of entry, to mount surveillance. This deployment comes at a huge cost in terms of equipment, time and other resources.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian government acquired reagents to test suspected cases of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid) in Nigeria. The designated laboratories have been set up in Lagos, Abuja and Irrua, in Edo State.
Despite all efforts by the government, the report indicated that foreign airlines are not complying with the regulators’ provisions on screening and self declaration by passengers before arrival in Nigeria. Also, poor state of the airport facilities, unavailability of vehicles for mobility of the affected person to be examined and treated, among others.
Nigerians needs sustained enlightenment on the symptoms of coronavirus and what to do when cases are detected in urban and rural areas at regular intervals.
Nigerians need sustained enlightenment on the symptoms of coronavirus and what to do when cases are detected in urban and rural areas at regular intervals.
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