Passengers on flight that brought Italian to Lagos with Coronavirus, offer wrong phone numbers
Passengers who flew with Nigeria's index coronavirus patient, have been very uncooperative, authorities say.
Illustrative photo of health professionals on disease containment (AFP)
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The Italian arrived Lagos from Milan on February 25 for a brief business visit in neighboring Ogun State.
He took ill the day after and was transferred to the Lagos State Biosecurity Facility for isolation and testing.
He was diagnosed with the virus on February 27 and has been undergoing treatment at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba.
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Officials say his condition has been stable.
The Nigerian government is in a race against time to trace passengers and crew members who shared the Italian's flight on the day, test, quarantine and possibly isolate them for a period.
Lagos Gov Sanwo-Olu receives Health Minister Ehanire in his office on coronavirus containment and harmonisation plans (Twitter: @Jidesanwoolu)
Lagos Gov Sanwo-Olu receives Health Minister Ehanire in his office on coronavirus containment and harmonisation plans (Twitter: @Jidesanwoolu)
Pulse Nigeria
But this has turned out to be a herculean task.
“The airline that brought the index patient has been notified and has been advised to put the crew that came with the flight on observation,” says Health Minister Osagie Ehanire.
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“There have been a few challenges in that some people gave telephone numbers that did not work or numbers that are said to be switched off.”
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has also been left scratching his head over it all.
“There were 25 people who came in contact with him at the factory (in Ogun State); there were two drivers and an ambulance driver. We have quarantined those identified so far at our medical facilities and some of them at home.
“We are calling them twice a day to check if they are okay. If they develop symptoms, we will bring them to our biosecurity facility for a test.
“We have identified all of these people except some of the people on the aircraft who have either gone back to Europe or traveled to other states.
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“Some of them gave us false information on the telephone. We are still trying to find the remaining passengers on that aircraft every day. Our contact list is over 100 people and this number is increasing every day," Sanwo-Olu says.
Sanwo-Olu shares coronavirus containment plans with the press (Twitter @jidesanwoolu)
Sanwo-Olu shares coronavirus containment plans with the press (Twitter @jidesanwoolu)
Pulse Nigeria
Over 89,000 people globally are currently infected with the highly contagious coronavirus disease, the majority in mainland China, which is the epicenter of the ailment.
Outside of China, the coronavirus has spread to 66 countries, with more than 8,800 cases and 130 deaths.
The coronavirus has so far killed over 3,000 people on a global scale.
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