Italian man visited a cement factory in Ewekoro – Ogun state government speaks on outbreak of Coronavirus, says situation is under control

Ogun State Government has confirmed reports that the Italian man diagnosed with Coronavirus, visited the state.

At a press conference held in Abeokuta, the state capital this afternoon, the Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, said the Italian who is a consultant to Larfarge Africa Plc, had visited the cement factory in Ewekoro, Ogun State, on Tuesday February 25th, said the victim had developed fever and was treated at the clinic located in Lafarge facility, a cement factory. She explained that the Italian was rushed to Lagos on Wednesday February 26th when the case grew worse before it was confirmed that he had contracted Coronavirus.

She added that a team of epidemiologists have commenced line listing to detect all contacts the victim made during his stay in the state.

The Commissioner hinted that the victim made three contacts before his arrival in Ogun on Tuesday.  She told newsmen that the whole facility of Lafarge has been quarantine following the incident. Coker vowed that every single person who made contact with the victim would be identified.

“In the last 12 hours, the first case of COVID – 19 (Coronavirus) has been identified on Nigeria and the individual was visiting Ogun State. The said individual is of Italian origin, a consultant to the Lafarge, Ewekoro factory. He arrived Nigeria on Monday, 24 of February about 9:00pm. Before arriving in Ogun State, he had made contact with three people, spent the night in Lagos State and arrived on Tuesday morning in Ogun State.

He stayed at a guest house and at about 4-5pm on Wednesday, he developed body ache and fever. The staff clinic of Lafarge was very sensitive to the case, they responded speedily and contacted Lagos, they had a high index of suspicion and once they contacted Lagos, the protocol kicked in and the individual was transferred to Lagos in a closed ambulance according to protocol.

He was transferred to the infectious disease centre in Yaba, Lagos where tests were conducted and a definite confirmation came out earlier this morning hence, the press release nationally and from Lagos.

However, my colleague, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos contacted me very early this morning to alert us about the situation. My message to the people of Ogun State is, there is no cause for concern. The epidemiologist in Ogun State being supported both by Federal and Lagos governments are line listing every contact that this individual has had which means we are going to phone them, get in touch with them, quarantine them and monitor their temperature for two weeks.

Also, I’m reassuring us that individually we have to be responsible for our health. Every single one of us has to have good respiratory hygiene which means that if we have a cough or we have a cold, we have to cover our mouths with tussles or handkerchiefs and dispose them responsibly. Don’t leave them on surfaces because the virus could still be in those things, use them and dispose them immediately, don’t put them back in your pockets,” she said