COVID-19: Lagos State begins trace of 1,300 who had contact with four new cases 

The Lagos State Government has said that the index case of COVID19 in Nigeria who had been receiving care at the Lagos Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba has tested negative to the virus.

The State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who disclosed this on Thursday while giving updates on COVID19 in Lagos, said a confirmatory test would be carried out on him before he is released into the community.

Abayomi said: “I am happy to inform you that the index case has now cleared the virus.

“We will check him one more time and if he is negative, he would be discharged.

“Our second case as you would recall has been discharged, while others receiving care at our biosecurity unit in Yaba are doing well.”

Meanwhile, Abayomi revealed that the State has recorded four more new confirmed cases of COVID19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the State to 11, out of which nine are active cases, excluding the index case who has now tested negative and the second case who has been discharged.

According to him, the Ministry on Wednesday conducted 19 tests on suspected cases out of which four samples tested positive.

He added that the four cases were among the contacts of the confirmed cases that were announced on Wednesday and other suspected cases the Ministry is following up.

Abayomi explained further that one of the cases is a contact from the third confirmed case who came into the country on March 13, 2020 via the British Airways flight BA 75.

He added that the other case was that of a female Nigerian who flew in from France via Istanbul on Turkish Airline flight TK1830 on March 14, 2020.

There is also a man in his 50’s who never travelled out of the country, but presented with symptoms and tested positive.

The fourth being a Nigerian male who arrived Lagos on March 13, 2020, from Frankfurt on Lufthansa flight LH568.

The commissioner, however, said more tests are still being carried out, noting: “It is clear we have a combination of imported cases and local transmission.”

Abayomi stated that Lagos State Executive Council is meeting on the next line of action on social distancing, noting that the best way to slow the rate is to halt the movement of the virus from person to person.

He appealed to passengers on Turkish Airline flight TK1830 that arrived Lagos on March 14 and Lufthansa flight LH568 that arrived on March 13 to self-isolate themselves and reach out to officials of the State Government on the 08000CORONA toll-free line.

He added: “Currently, we are following over 1,300 people right now to find information about the state of their health and the number is increasing.”

Abayomi emphasized the need for citizens to practice the principle of “Social Distancing” by avoiding body contacts and public and social gatherings, stressing that it is through this that active human to human transmission of the virus can be prevented.