Lagos allays fears of COVID-19, says isolated Chinese not infected
The 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 coronavirus has tested negative to the virus.
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, is very low and the conclusion of investigations and sophisticated testing confirms that there is no case of coronavirus in Lagos state as of now.
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“I would like to reassure Lagosians that our vigilance levels are very high and we are putting more measures in place to safeguard the state,” he said.
While giving details of the investigation, Abayomi explained that the state Ministry of Health’s attention was drawn to a suspected case of coronavirus 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 himself 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 can cause unnecessary anxiety in the society.
He urged citizens to disregard any information about the novel coronavirus which does not emanate from official communication channels of the state Ministry of Health or his office.
