The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has disclosed that five travellers from China tested negative to Coronavirus. This was disclosed by an official of NCDC.
Earlier Nairametrics had disclosed that the Federal Government was examining two suspected cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID19.
Giving update on the development in Abuja on Friday, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, had explained that the agency was conducting tests to know the status of the individuals.
He said, “We had two cases and tests are going on at the moment. As soon as they are completed, it will be announced. If a person returns to the country, say within 20 or 30 days, there is no point wasting reagents to test such a person.”
What to do in suspected cases: “For other diseases, we usually advise people to go to the hospitals to get tested, but for suspected cases of coronavirus, patients are advised to simply put a call through to us, we will come to the patient because going to the hospital can amplify the disease if it is found to be positive,” he was quoted in Punch.
Egypt case: In a statement issued on Friday, the ministry confirmed that the carrier was not Egyptian but didn’t disclose the nationality.
“The ministry has taken preventative measures and is monitoring the patient… who is stable,” said health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed.
Egyptian authorities had notified the World Health Organization and the patient been placed in quarantined isolation in hospital.
What it means: The development made Egypt the first country in the African continent to report a confirmed case, and the second in the Middle East region, after the United Arab Emirates late last month diagnosed its first cases.
The death toll from the epidemic virus has neared 1,400 cases, almost exclusively in China where it was first identified.
Deep trade links with China and often overstretched healthcare systems have raised concerns about the capacity of African countries to respond to an outbreak.
Earlier this month, Egypt suspended all flights on its national carrier to China and insisted the flights will remain grounded until the end of the month.
Meanwhile, 301 Egyptians were evacuated from Wuhan, epicentre of the virus in China, and have remained in quarantine for 14 days.
Updates of the spread: China on Friday reported 121 more deaths from the coronavirus outbreak, 116 of which are from the epicentre of the infection in Hubei Province alone, bringing to at least 1,380 the total number of deaths across the country.
The latest toll reflected the removal of some deaths that had been double counted in Hubei, the health commission said. On Thursday, Chinese health officials had already reported 1,367 deaths.
Hubei and its capital Wuhan, where the infection now known as COVID-19 is thought to have originated in late December, also reported a further 4,823 new cases of the infection, taking the total in the province alone to 51,986.
Nationwide, there are 5,090 new cases pushing the total number to nearly 64,000 as of Friday.
