Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed that a man from Ogun State who reportedly had contact with the Italian victim of the dreaded Coronavirus has become the second victim of the disease in the country.
Ehanire who spoke in Benin, the Edo State capital on Monday at a press conference said the latest case from Ogun State brings the total number of victims to two as the Italian had earlier been diagnosed with the novel disease.
The minister recalled that on March 8, scientists confirmed the presence of Coronavirus in one of the contacts, noting that as a minister it is his duty to announce the new case of the Coronavirus disease in Nigeria.
He added: “The newly confirmed case is an Ogun State contact of the index case but he has no significant clinical symptoms. It brings the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria today to two.”
He explained that since the beginning of the outbreak in China and its subsequent spread to other countries, one of the important response strategies at the containment stage has been to identify all contacts, ensure their strict isolation, and follow up the way to check for every symptom of the dreaded disease.
According to him, all contacts of the index case in Ogun and Lagos will remain in isolation and testing will be carried out on those not yet tested including some in other states.
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He assured that the Federal Ministry of Health and its counterparts in Lagos and Ogun State will do all that is needed to control the spread of the outbreak.
He also said since the first case was confirmed in Nigeria on the 27th of February 2020, the National Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Abuja, continues to work closely with Lagos and Ogun State EOCs to coordinate response activities.
He said the Federal Government has committed about N1billion in fighting the course and have also gotten promises of cash donations from private individuals and organisations.
He said: “The government of Nigeria has committed about N1bn to this response and every amount that was requested by NCDC has been granted by the President with no delay at all. The money is available and is being used and utilised.
“We also have promises of donations from several of organisations, private sectors and we got a letter the other day that we can apply for the global funds that have been allocated to Nigeria for this response.”
Ehanire cautioned against spreading rumours to cause fear and panic as the ministry and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will continue to provide prompt and reliable updates and initiate all measures required to protect Nigerians from the killer disease.