…as health commissioner allays fears of virus in state
By Benjamin Omoike, Lagos
Lagos State Government has said that the Chinese citizen who was admitted at the Reddington Hospital, Ikeja, on Wednesday, and suspected to have been infected with the Corona Virus has tested negative to the infection.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who made this known through a press statement on Thursday, noted that the likelihood of COVID-19 infection in this particular patient, was very low and the conclusion of investigations and sophisticated testing, confirms that there is no case of Corona Virus in Lagos State as of now.
“I would like to reassure Lagosians that our vigilance levels are very high and we are putting more measures in place to safe guard the state,” he said.
While giving details of the investigation, Abayomi explained that the Ministry of Health’s attention was drawn to a suspected case of Corona Virus at Reddington Hospital; a private health facility located at Ikeja. “From our investigation, we gathered that a Chinese citizen, who arrived in Nigeria from China seven weeks ago, presented at Reddington Hospital yesterday complaining about fever. The hospital in keeping with the advisory we earlier issued, correctly maintained a high index of suspicion, isolated the patient and reported the case to the Ministry.
“We took up the case, transferred the patient to the State Isolation Unit at the Mainland Hospital, which is our specialised infectious disease hospital. His blood samples were taken to the Virology Laboratory for analysis and it came out negative,” the Commissioner said.
Abayomi appealed to citizens to refrain from posting unverified news that could cause unnecessary anxiety in the community.
He urged citizens to disregard any information about the novel Coronavirus which does not emanate from official communication channels of the Ministry of Health or his office.
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