The minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has hinted that the government was facing obstacles in tracing some of the people, who had contacts with the
The minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has hinted that the government was facing obstacles in tracing some of the people, who had contacts with the first coronavirus case, the Italian, ThePunch is reporting.
He said some passengers, who were on the same Turkish Airlines flight with the first index case, an Italian businessman, gave telephone numbers that were not working. Explaining efforts to trace those who had contacts with the index case, the Minister of Health, Ehanire, said, “The airline that brought the index patient has been notified and has been advised to put the crew that came with the flight on observation. There have been a few challenges in that some people gave telephone numbers that did not work or numbers that are said to be switched off.
“There are some of them who probably did not have telephone, like new arrivals in Nigeria that have not yet registered on any phone companies in Nigeria. But there are ways in which they can be found out. Some have probably left Nigeria and a day or two, but the manifest is a document to start with. The owner of the aircraft has been notified and the embassy of the index case has been notified. The World Health Organisation has been notified.
“There were 156 passengers on the manifest of the flight that brought the index case. Port Health Services and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control have been supporting Ogun and Lagos state governments to carry out contact tracing and other response activities.”
He said there was no new coronavirus case in the country apart from the Italian being treated in Lagos, adding that the isolation centre at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital would be ready for use in April. He added that the newly built intensive care unit at the hospital would be used as a temporary coronavirus isolation centre in Abuja.
