The Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, on Monday urged Nigerians not to panic as the country recorded the second case of COVID-19 in Ogun.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on Monday at a news conference in Benin confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country.
Mamora said: “We have a duty to inform the public regularly on the developing issues of COVID-19 in the country.
“The new case is one of the contacts already established from the index case, the Italian man that came into the country.
“The new case is not, as at now, manifesting any symptom, but there was a suspicion to screen and a test was conducted which came out positive.
“We need to avoid panic. We should spread the facts and not fake news at this point.’’
The minister added that other contacts that had been identified would be checked for proper monitoring.
He urged the public to maintain good hygiene to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
Earlier, Prof. Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, had in a tweet on Monday, confirmed another case of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in Nigeria.
Abayomi said the second case was a contact of the index case in Ogun.
Also, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) through its twitter handle @NCDCgov, said the new case had been in isolation and was tested as part of the strategy to test all contacts of the index case.
According to NCDC, recent studies have shown that increased surveillance, isolation of contacts, and contact tracing reduces the risk of spread of COVID-19
“All other contacts of the index case in Ogun and Lagos will remain in isolation and testing will be done on those not yet tested.
“Since the first case was confirmed in Lagos, the NCDC has been supporting the Ogun State Emergency Operations Centre to respond accordingly.”
The NCDC also urged the public not to panic, appealing to them to maintain thorough handwashing, respiratory hygiene and main maintain distance with anyone coughing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Nigeria on Feb. 28 confirmed its first case of COVID-19, making Nigeria the third Africa country to confirm the virus.
The virus was brought into the country by an Italian citizen who entered Nigeria on Feb. 25 from Milan, Italy, for a brief business visit.
The index case was confirmed on Feb. 27, and is presently being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.
