NCDC: 23 suspected coronavirus cases in Lagos, FCT, Kano

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 23 suspected cases of coronavirus have been identified in Edo, Lagos, Ogun, FCT and Kano states.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, NCDC director-general, disclosed this on Sunday, in Abuja.

He said besides the index case recorded in Lagos, there is no new confirmed case of the virus in the country.

Ihekweazu said a total of 219 contacts of the index case were identified, including contacts from hotel, workplace and hospital.

“No new contacts have been reported in Lagos and Ogun states,” he said.

He said the confirmed case is clinically stable at the designated treatment facility for the virus at the infectious disease hospital (IDH) in Yaba, Lagos.

He reiterated that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC) activated at level three had continued to coordinate the national response activities led by NCDC.

He said field investigations were ongoing and all contacts were undergoing daily symptom monitoring.

He said there was also a centralised follow-up of persons of interests (POIs) initiated for people outside Lagos and Ogun states.

“Testing of samples collected through the national influenza sentinel surveillance system as part of enhanced surveillance is ongoing,” he said.

“A draft tool for tracking and monitoring HCW infection has been developed.”

Ihekweazu said resources on the virus have also been developed by NCDC for guidance of schools, infection prevention and control recommendations for health workers.

Since the outbreak of the disease in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, more than 100,000 people across 91 countries have been infected, with at least 3,000 deaths reported.