Coronavirus: Italian Improving, as 28 Contacts are Isolated in Ogun
•Ehanire: government will not impose travel ban on anybody•Coronavirus could reach all countries, WHO warnsChika Amanze-Nwachuku, Segun James, Martins Ifijeh and Chinedu Eze in Lagos, Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Also at a press briefing yesterday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi said the Italian was stable and was not showing any acute symptoms of the virus yet. State and federal health authorities are also looking for all the passengers in the Turkish Airlines that brought the Italian to Lagos on February 25. He came into Lagos from Italy, en route Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
Abayomi said: “We will use all the resources made available by the state and the federal government to respond to this case. We are working to identify all the contacts of the patient since he arrived in Nigeria. Prof Abayomi said the Italian did not exhibit any symptom of the disease on arrival at the Lagos Airport.
The Director General of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, who spoke in Abuja, said the NCDC has also ”escalated the multi-sectoral coronavirus preparedness group to an Emergency Operations Centre , at Level II to lead response activities”.”The NCDC will continue to keep Nigerians informed. It is important for them to be focused on facts and not fear.
When asked if the team had identified some of the contacts, the DG said: “it is too early to give that information but the obvious ones are the co-passengers of the gentleman in that plane. However, in the next 48 hours or so, we hope to start getting reports from the investigating team.” The Commissioner said a team of epidemiologists had commenced line-listing to detect all contacts the victim made during his stay in the state.
“However, my colleague, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos contacted me very early this morning to alert us about the situation. My message to the people of Ogun State is, there is no cause for concern. Addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire dismissed assertions that the nation was probably caught unawares by the first discovery of the virus in the country on Thursday.
Ehanire said that despite importation of the covid-19 into the country, the government would not impose travel ban on Nigerians or citizens of other countries. He said that the ministry had been in touch with the aircraft authorities to find out who his seatmates were and how many people had possibly been infected. “We will do everything possible and use the resources to limit and contain this virus so it doesn’t spread,” he assured.
Futures in New York fell a sixth day after fears over the outbreak sent shares on Wall Street down by the most in almost a decade. With crude prices down more than 14 per cent this week, there are signs that OPEC and its allies could be nearing agreement on action to stem the rout before meeting in Vienna next week.
Five more countries have reported their first case of COVID-19, all with travel history connected to Italy – Nigeria, Estonia, Denmark, Netherlands and Lithuania – Reuters quoted WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier to have said. According to Sanwo-Olu, there is no cause for alarm yet on the incident even as he assured that the government would do everything in its powers to contain it.
Ononye said the Incident Management team from the state health ministry would work with the Rapid Response Team of the NCDC. King Paul Akpan Udoh, 22, who plays for Pianese in Serie C, was diagnosed on Thursday and has been quarantined, media outlets have reported.Footballers, worried about the impact of coronavirus, have been contacting unions “out of fear” they could be forced to play in “high-risk environments”, according to global body Fifpro.
In a statement by the Director, NIAID, Anthony Fauci yesterday, the agency said the vaccine had been shipped to researchers just six weeks after it started working on the immunisation. Health officials and pharmaceutical companies around the world are working at a breakneck pace to identify treatments or a vaccine to help fight the coronavirus, which has infected more than 80,000 people around the world, and killed over 2800 persons.
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