The Federal Ministry of Health on Friday confirmed the first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
Minister of Health, Doctor Osagie Ehanire in a statement said the case, confirmed in Lagos State was an Italian citizen who worked in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos on the 25th of February.
He said: “He was confirmed by the virology laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital , part of the laboratory network in the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).”
Dr Ehanire said the patient was being managed by the Infectious Disease Hospital , Yaba , Lagos and was clinically stable , with no serious symptoms.
This makes Nigeria the third country with the disease in Africa. Algeria had confirmed its first case on Wednesday while Egypt reported Africa’s first COVID-19 case earlier this month.
As at Friday morning, 82, 294 cases of the disease have been confirmed globally . The disease has also spread to Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Norway, Pakistan, Romania, and North Macedonia.
The health minister said the federal government through the ministry had been strengthening measures to ensure an outbreak in Nigeria was controlled and contained quickly.
He said the multi-sectoral Coronavirus Preparedness Group led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had immediately activated its National Emergency Operations Centre and would work closely with Lagos State Health authorities to respond to the case and implement firm control measures.
He assured Nigerians that the government had been strengthening preparedness capacity since the confirmation of the first cases in China, and that government would use all available resources to respond to the case.