Almost two weeks after the Italian businessman who was first diagnosed with coronavirus in Nigeria, a second positive case of the virus has been confirmed in the country.
This new coronavirus index case is among the people who had made contact with the Italian businessman who was first diagnosed in Nigeria.
Making this revelation was the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire during a press conference on Monday, March 9.
No fewer than a total 60 people had been quarantined in Lagos and Ogun states, after the Italian businessman was diagnosed with the virus, after entering the country in late February.
The minister said, “On 8th March 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.”
Noting that the new patient, who is an Ogun State contact of the first index case has, “no significant clinical symptoms,” the minister said that the patient has now been placed in isolation and under clinical follow up and in care at Infectious Disease Hospital, Lagos, adding that all other contacts of the Italian in Ogun and Lagos states will remain in isolation and testing will be carried out on those not yet tested, including some in other states.
Meanwhile, over 110,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide since the reported first case in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and no fewer than 4,000 people had been killed by the virus, which has spread to over 100 countries worldwide, with over 66,000 said to have recovered from the virus.
