As Coronavirus continues to spread in countries around the world, three suspected patients quarantined in Lagos have tested negative to the deadly disease.
This leaves only the Italian patient as the only confirmed case in Nigeria so far, the Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said Friday evening.
Abayomi had on Thursday said three people had been quarantined at the state’s isolation centre in Yaba on suspicion of contracting Coronavirus.
But tests carried out on the suspects have proved negative even as he revealed that one of the suspects quarantined was a Nigerian who travelled to France eight days ago and arrived the country four days later.
He said that the man developed headache and respiratory symptom which led to him being quarantined.
Two other travellers from England and China were also quarantined for coronavirus after they developed same symptoms but samples were collected for tests to ascertain if they had been affected by Coronavirus.
However, the commissioner tweeted on Friday evening that the three suspects had tested negative to the deadly disease and had since been discharged.
In the tweet, Abayomi wrote: “Breaking! #COVID19Lagos All the three #COVID19 suspected cases; travellers from France, England and China whose samples were collected yesterday for analysis have tested negative and they have been discharged.”
He however maintained on Thursday that the index case, an Italian, was responding to treatment at the isolation centre, as his clinical situation was stable.
He stated that the Italian was in high spirit, but that he required psycho-social support as he was getting depressed for being in isolation alone, adding that the patient was in touch with his family and friends in Italy.
Abayomi, however, said the level of viral load in his body had gone down and that if that continued, in the next few days, he might be discharged if he tested negative to the disease.
He said government would not just release him immediately he tested negative to the disease, but would still keep him and run a second test in few days to ascertain he was completely free from the disease before letting him go back to his country.
On the people who alighted from the Turkish Airline on arrival in Lagos, he said government had been able to trace 13 of the remaining 15 contacts, leaving only two that had not been reached, saying that if at the end of today, they could not be reached, he would release their names to the media.
Source: THISDAY
