Lagos being closely monitored over Coronavirus, FG declares

• Dismisses suspected case in Egbeda, moves to check monkey pox outbreak
• Ebonyi govt to screen Chinese resident in state
• Kogi, Kebbi confirm 11 cases of Lassa fever, four deaths

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire and the Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, have disclosed that the state is being closely monitored over possible outbreak of Coronavirus in the country. Dismissing rumour of a suspected case at Gowon Estate in Egbeda, Alimosho Council Area, they maintained that Nigeria has learnt a lot of lessons from the Ebola outbreak of 2014.

They, therefore, said the surveillance and level of readiness to tackle the virus was high at the airport and seaports, adding that facilities to treat patients in the event of confirmed cases and health personnel were being deployed to the port health services.

They made the assertion yesterday during a visit to the Federal Central Medical Store in Oshodi, Lagos and the Biobank Centre at Mainland Hospital, Yaba to inspect the level of preparedness for Coronavirus in Nigeria, which was led by a team from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Ehanire, who responded to the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) alleged global shortage of protective equipment for medical personnel said, “We have a good stock in Nigeria and we have received funds from the Federal Government to purchase and procure more, so we are in the process of procuring more.”

On his part, Abayomi said the Lagos State government was watching China closely and its handling the Coronavirus situation, as the state was ready and proactive, rather than being “sorry and reactive.”

We have been working hard since the Ebola outbreak four years ago and we have been building capacity, infrastructure, revising our legislative arm to ensure that we have correct policies, guidelines and frameworks in training staff to deal with outbreaks like Ebola, Monkey pox, Lassa, Coronavirus, cholera and others.

Consequently, the state government and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) at the weekend commenced surveillance tour of livestock and bush meat markets to test animals for components of monkey pox.

Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, who disclosed this when members of the One Health Team of the NCDC visited him, noted that the exercise was aimed at preventing the outbreak of monkey pox in the state.Besides, the Ebonyi State government said it would screen all Chinese resident in the state following the outbreak of Coronavirus in China.

This was contained in a communiqué issued in Abakaliki after an emergency meeting convened by Governor David Umahi on the recent outbreak of some communicable diseases, farmers profiling, as well as herdsmen and farmers clashes in the state. According to the communiqué, all Chinese coming into the state should submit themselves for medical examination and should not to be allowed to work until after 14 days from the date of their arrival to ensure that they were safe from the communicable disease.

Meanwhile, Kogi State Ministry of Health has confirmed nine cases and four deaths from Lassa fever since the outbreak of the disease in the state last month. The state’s Epidemiologist, Dr. Austin Ojotule, disclosed this in a statement in Lokoja, saying the state’s statistics on Lassa fever outbreak update as at February 8, 2020 so far amounted to 31 suspected cases.

Also, Kebbi State Government has confirmed two cases of Lassa fever of 12 suspected cases from January 2020 to date.The state’s Epidemiologist, Dr. Assad Hassan, disclosed this in an interview with Radio Nigeria in Birnin-Kebbi, adding that the two patients were from Kalgo and Birnin-Kebbi council areas, while nine of them tested negative and one still awaiting result.