Coronavirus: Nigerian patient discharged, as Italian contacts end 14 days isolation

By RISIKAT RAMONI, Lagos

The Lagos State government has discharged the Nigerian who tested positive to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday after he tested negative twice.

Also, the 179 contact of the index case, an Italian who brought the virus to Nigeria, who were on isolation in Lagos, Ogun, and other parts of the country, have completed their 14 days isolation without any sign of the virus showing on them.

Giving an update in Lagos on Friday to newsmen, the Lagos state Commissioner for health, Prof Akin Abayomi said the Nigerian who had very close contact with the Italian, tested positive to COVID-19 twice.

He explained the test subsequently turned negative and he does not have any symptoms at the moment and he is now clear of the virus, adding that after two consecutive negative tests, “we made the decision that he should be discharged. He is now discharged.”

Regarding the 179 contacts of the index case, he said, “179 contacts were traced, out if which 40 were in Ogun and the rest of the 139 were in Lagos and other states.

Some travelled out of Lagos. All of them are being followed up because we were able to identify them all. All the 179 were in isolation for 14 days and they have exceeded it already. They had been allowed to go as none of them developed any symptom of the disease.”

The Commissioner further said, all suspected patients at the IDH in Lagos have been discharged and there won’t be any follow up on any contact in Lagos. He revealed that the index case will soon be discharged too.

Although, he said, the last test done on him shows he is still secreting small amount of virus and that is why he is still being kept at the infectious disease hospital in Yaba. “He is potentially still contagious.

Our tests indicate that any moment from now, his immune system will clear the infection and then we will look for a second negative. If his test shows negative, after 48 hours, we will repeat the test to confirm if he’s still negative.

If that happens, it means he is consistently being non-contagious and cannot transmit the virus or pose any danger to the community. At that point, we will discharge him.

“We are getting close to discharging the index case because we believe he is no longer contagious to any significant degree, but we want to make sure that once he is out of our jurisdiction, he poses no danger to the community here in Nigeria, on the Airline he will use to go back to Europe, or to his community in Europe.”

Abayomi said, “very soon we will be able to categorically say, we have eliminated the threat of COVID-19 outbreak as a result of the Italian index case that entered through Lagos on the 24th of February, 2020.” (Daily Trust)