The Lagos State commissioner of Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said that the Chinese citizen who presented at the Reddington Hospital, Ikeja yesterday and who was suspected to have Coronavirus has tested negative to the infection.
“The hospital in keeping with the advisory we earlier issued, correctly maintained a high index of suspicion, isolated the patient and reported the case to the Lagos State Ministry of Health
“We took up the case, transferred the patient to the State Isolation Unit at the Mainland hospital which is our specialised infectious disease hospital. His blood samples were taken to the Virology laboratory for analysis and it came out negative”, the Commissioner said in several tweets today.
The Lagos government earlier on Wednesday, announced the suspected case of #COVIDー19 at
Reddington Lagos hospital.
Government said it was investigating the suspect and had the patient isolated at Mainland Hospital.
Government also announced that it was awaiting the result of the blood sample taken for investigation.
Lagos and the Federal Government have been on hyper-alert for the virus, which has infected over 80,000 people worldwide and is on the rage in South Korea, Italy and Iran, outside of the epicentre in Wuhan, Hubei province of China.
Abayomi appealed to Lagos citizens on Thursday to refrain from posting unverified news about the coronavirus that can cause unnecessary anxiety in the state.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also said the 11 suspected cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) tested in Nigeria were negative.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director General of NCDC, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Ihekweazu reassured Nigerians of their safety against COVID-19, following rumours of a confirmed case in Lagos.
He said the tests were conducted by the NCDC National Reference Laboratory and Virology Laboratory at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
“Four laboratories in Nigeria have the capacity to test for the coronavirus. These laboratories are within the NCDC laboratory network and are in contact 24/7. If a new case is confirmed, it will be reported accordingly.
“We are in close communication with the Lagos State Ministry of Health and other states, and will inform the public once there’s a confirmed case in Nigeria,” the director general said.
Ihekweazu assured Nigerians that the NCDC would continue to closely monitor the outbreak globally.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard rumours and discourage further spread. NCDC will inform the public if a case is reported in Nigeria,” he said.
The NCDC boss said that when a high-risk traveller with symptoms arrive the country, he/ she would be taken from the airport to an isolation centre and samples would be collected immediately for testing.
“If confirmed, appropriate management will commence but if negative, he/she would still be monitored for 14 days and retested.
“When a high risk traveller that is not symptomatic comes into the country, the person is advised to stay at home for 14 days and report immediately if he/she develops symptoms.
“Furthermore, his contact details are obtained and an official is attached to him/her to monitor him daily for 14 days to see if he develops symptoms.
“If he develops symptoms within 14 days of arrival in the country, samples would be collected from him for confirmation.
“If confirmed he/she goes into our isolation centre where he would be managed appropriately,” he explained.
