Coronavirus: Second Case Discharged, Index Case Still Being Monitored – Lagos Govt
2 min read
The Lagos State government says it has discharged the Nigerian who tested positive to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday after he tested negative twice.
The Lagos state Commissioner for health, Prof Akin Abayomi said this while giving an update to newsmen.
He said the Nigerian who had very close contact with the Italian, tested positive to COVID-19 twice but the test subsequently turned negative and that 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.”
He revealed also that all suspected patients at the IDH in Lagos have been discharged and there won’t be any follow up on any contact in Lagos.
About the index case, he said He revealed will soon be discharged.
“He is potentially still contagious. Our tests indicates 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.”
