Two more foreign nationals suspected to be carrying the novel coronavirus from a high-risk country in Asia have tested negative in Lagos State.

The state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed this on Monday at an advocacy meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Alausa.

He explained that a series of medical examinations conducted on the two patients, who were brought from Ogun State over the weekend, did not show any sign of coronavirus infection.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke in Yoruba language, noted that the Incident Command Centre was satisfied with the recovery of the Italian national who tested positive to the virus on Friday last week.

“We have called for this meeting as part of proactive measures we are taking to prevent the spread of coronavirus to our local communities,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile.

The governor added, “It is no more news that we are managing a case in Lagos, but the situation does not call for panic. One of the lessons we learnt during the outbreak of Ebola virus six years ago is that the grassroots was adequately sensitised and prepared.

“We are bringing the lesson back in this period when we are dealing with another highly contagious virus. We don’t want to record any loss of life to this virus.”

According to Sanwo-Olu, the state government places premium value on human life as this is the reason it has upgraded facilities at the bio-security centre and Infectious Disease Hospital to stop the spread of the virus.

He believes better results can be achieved if the people at the grassroots are properly sensitised on how to protect their communities from the virus and other contagious diseases.

 

False Information

The governor stressed that the government was already doing its best to stop coronavirus, but it cannot be done alone.

He stated that curbing the spread of the virus required the collective responsibility of everybody living in Lagos.

“What we are doing today is to cascade information on coronavirus down to people in our various communities and towns.

“We want every resident of the State to have first-hand information on the virus and how to report any possible case to the authorities,” Sanwo-Olu told the meeting.

He spoke at the meeting with all 57 council chairmen and community health officers from all councils, among others.

On his part, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos, Professor Akin Abayomi, said the government had intensified its search for all persons that had interaction with the isolated patient.

He explained that the Incident Command Centre was still investigating possible transmission of the virus, adding that the centre had identified all the local contacts that interacted with the patient, including some passengers on the plane and six other persons who came in contact with him at the airport.

The commissioner said, “There were 159 passengers in the aircraft and six people that came in contact with him at the airport. There are 25 people who came in contact with him at the factory; there were two drivers and an ambulance driver.

“We have quarantined those identified so far at our medical facilities and some of them at home. We are calling them twice a day to check if they are okay. If they develop symptoms, we will bring them to our bio-security facility for test.”

“We have identified all of these people except some of the people on the aircraft who have either gone back to Europe and other states.

“Some of them gave us false information on the phone. We are still trying to find the remaining passengers on that aircraft every day. Our contact list is over 100 persons and this number is increasing every day,” Abayomi added.