THE Federal Government yesterday confirmed another case of coronavirus in Nigeria, bringing to two the number of people who have tested positive to the disease.

The government also said 11 persons that had contact with index case, the Italian, were in untraceable locations across the country.

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, in a text he read at a news conference in Benin, Edo State, said the second case was confirmed by scientists on Sunday.

The statement read: “On March 8, 2020, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts. It is my duty, therefore, to announce a new case of coronavirus disease in Nigeria.

“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.

“Since the beginning of the outbreak in China and subsequent spread to other countries, one of the important response strategies at the containment stage, has been to identify all contacts, ensure their strict isolation and to follow up daily with checks for any symptoms of the disease.

“Following recent experience from other countries and evidence from newly published studies on non-symptomatic infections, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control NCDC, advised that samples should be taken from all contacts of the Index case for testing. It is in this process that this new case was detected.

“A total of 217 contacts were linked to the index case. Of the 217, 45 traveled out of Nigeria and 172 are presently in Nigeria. Of the 172 contacts currently in Nigeria, 69 are in Lagos, 40 in Ogun and 52 in other states, with 11 in unknown locations.

“Two new developments have taken place since the last briefing in Abuja on the coronavirus situation in Nigeria.

“The first is that a team of researchers from various institutions in Nigeria, including scientists from the Centre for Human and Zoology Virology in LUTH, African Centre for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Redeemers University and the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Lagos, combined their efforts to successfully perform the genome sequencing of the coronavirus strain that the index case brought to Nigeria and proved it to be a match with the virus circulating in Italy and Wuhan.

“This was coordinated by the Lagos State Ministry of Health and NCDC. It is the first time the sequencing of this virus has been performed in Africa. The result has been shared with International Authorities and the Director General of the World Health Organization has extended congratulations to Nigerian scientists for this achievement.
“The other development is that contact tracing and monitoring in respect of the coronavirus index case presently receiving treatment in Lagos, has been diligently pursued since 27 February when the case was first diagnosed.
“Nevertheless, the Federal Ministry of Health, following best practice, decided to test these persons for the possible presence of coronavirus in their systems.
“On March 8 2020, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts. It is my duty, therefore, to announce a new case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
“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.
“Since the beginning of the outbreak in China and subsequent spread to other countries, one of the important response strategies at the containment stage, has been to identify all contacts, ensure their strict isolation and to follow up daily with checks for any symptoms of the disease. Following recent experience from other countries and evidence from newly published studies on non-symptomatic infections, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, advised that samples should be taken from all contacts of the Index case for testing. It is in this process that this new case was detected.
“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, contact tracing and isolation reduces the risk of spread, because further opportunities for transmission of the virus by the infected patient in the community are limited.
“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 those in other states.
“On the case reported in the US of Nigerian origin, we are in touch with colleagues at the US Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA and here in Abuja. The case visited Lagos in February 2020. However, given the timelines between the time he was in Nigeria briefly and when he became ill, the likelihood that he was infected in Lagos is very low.”
President Buhari’s committee
In a similar development, as a proactive measure to contain unlikely outbreak of coronavirus in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday set up a task force for the control of the disease.
The task force, which has a representative of the World Health Organisation, WHO, is headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF) Boss Mustapha.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.

The statement read: “Given the current global outbreak of the novel coronavirus and its potential of causing significant disruption to health services in the country as well as impacting negatively on the economy, President Muhammadu Buhari has established a Presidential Task Force for the Control of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

“This action is in preparation for the unlikely but probable major outbreak of the disease in the country which will require a multi-sectoral inter-governmental approach as advised by the World Health Organisation, WHO, similar to that adopted for the HIV epidemic in the last two decades.”

It said that the start and finish task group would be expected to deliver within a maximum period of six months.

Members of the task force are, Boss Mustapha Chairman, Dr. Sani Aliyu, national coordinator, Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Services, Sadia Umar Faruk.

Others are the Ministers of Education, Adamu Adamu, Lai Mohammed (Information) Mohammed Mahmoud (Environment), Director-General, State Services, Yusuf Bichi, Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekwazu and the WHO Country Representative.

Vanguard

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