· The Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria has reported the first case of Coronavirus
· An Italian national visiting the country has tested positive to the Coronavirus virus.
The Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria has reported that an Italian national visiting the country has tested positive to the Coronavirus virus.
The Lagos State Ministry of Health said in a statement that the Italian citizen entered Nigeria on the 25th of February from Milan, Italy for a brief business visit but fell ill on the 26th February. The case which was on 27/02/2020 and is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the outbreak in China in January. The patient was transferred to Lagos State Biosecurity Facilities for isolation and testing for COVID2019. The Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital infection confirmed the case. The status of the patient was reported to be stable.
This is the third case of Coronavirus in Africa. The other two coming from Egypt and Algeria. In the case of Algeria, it was also an Italian who arrived Algiers on February 17. The World Health Organisation had listed 13 Africa countries (Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Tunisia) as having the highest ‘importation risk’ of COVID-19. These countries were identified by WHO for taking preventive measures against the virus due to their direct links or a high volume of travel to China.
