Nigeria records first Coronavirus case

The first case of Coronavirus has been recorded in Nigeria after an Italian national tested positive to the virus, and this make the country the third in African to have record of the killer disease after Egypt and Algeria had earlier recorded cases of the virus.

Penpushing reports that the Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed this development explaining that the case was of an Italian citizen who arrived Nigeria on February 25 from Milan, Italy for a business and suddenly fell ill

“The case is an Italian citizen who entered Nigeria on the 25th of February from Milan, Italy for a brief business visit. He fell ill on the 26th February and was transferred to Lagos State Biosecurity Facilities for isolation and testing,”

The Lagos State Ministry of Health also confirmed in a statement, stating that, “#COVID2019 infection was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital @LUTHofficial, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control @NCDCgov.

Penpushing further reports that the Government added that, “the patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital (Mainland Hospital) in Yaba, Lagos.”

‘It is the third case of Coronavirus in Africa after Egypt and Algeria had earlier recorded cases of the virus, with the latter also being an Italian who arrived Algiers on February 17’.

Penpushing recalled that, the World Health Organisation(WHO) had earlier  in preparation for an eventual importation of the disease  listed 13 Africa countries (Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Tunisia) as having the highest ‘importation risk’.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that these countries are top priority for preparedness measures due to their direct links or high volume of travel to China, while it is also on record that the respiratory disease, which has killed over 2000 people, is capable of spreading through human-to-human contact, droplets carried through sneezing and coughing, and germs left on inanimate objects.

 Penpushing also reports that, symptoms of the disease can include a sore throat, runny nose, fever or pneumonia and can progress to multiple organ failure or death in some severe cases.