In the wake of the detection of coronavirus in Nigeria, the number of persons quarantined and being monitored has risen to 58.
The people quarantined are those who had contact with the Italian man infected with the virus. The Minister for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said on Monday, that officials are working to stop the disease spreading.
The government last Friday confirmed the first case of the virus after the patient was diagnosed inLagos.
The Italian had arrived from Milan, Italy on a business trip a week ago and travelled to a Lafarge Cement Company, Ewekoro in Ogun state before being diagnosed.
Authorities launched efforts to track down all those he might have had contact with.
The health minister told reporters in Abuja that “the contacts of the index case are identified as 19 contacts in Lagos and 39 contacts in Ogun state”.
“We are in touch with these contacts who are under supervised self-isolation and the states have provided them with temperature monitoring tools,” he said, adding that they would be under observation for at least 14 days.
The minister said the measure was to control the spread of the disease, which has killed more than 3,000 people, mostly in China where it broke out late last year.
“Contact tracing is a specialised activity that is done by experts — epidemiologists who know exactly what questions to ask and how to track people down.
“And the purpose is to know if you have an index case, who has been in contact with, and what is the likelihood that that person contracted the disease,” he said.
Ehanire said health officials would continue to hunt for more contacts with the Italian, adding that the 156 passengers on the same flight with him when he came to Nigeria were also being traced.
“We cannot give you a specific figure because it is a continuing process,” he added.
