Nigeria confirms first case of coronavirus

Nigeria has recorded the first case of coronavirus, health officials confirmed Thursday.

The Federal Ministry of Health in a Twitter post said the case was recorded in the commercial capital, Lagos.

It is also the first case to be confirmed in West Africa since the outbreak in China on December 31, 2019.

A statement signed by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated that an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on February 25, 2020, was suspected to have contracted the disease.

Mr Osagie said he (Italian) was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

He said the patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos. He advised Nigerians to pay adequate attention to their hygiene, reeling out measures to prevent contracting the disease.

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 53 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan).

So far 83,369 cases have been reported worldwide with 2,858 deaths recorded.

Some 36,525 persons who initially tested positive, have now recovered.