Tobi Soniyi
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has called on hospitals to contact it If they have a patient that matches any of its case definition of Coronavirus to arrange for sample collection and testing.
A surveillance case definitions for coronavirus disease issued by the centre urged any hospitals with such a patient to 07032864444.
A surveillance case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. Surveillance case definitions are not intended to be used by healthcare providers for making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient’s health needs.
The centre is asking hospitals to immediate call the above number if they have any of the three category of cases involving Coronavirus.
The three category of cases as stated by the centre are suspected case, probable case and confirmed case.
Under suspected case, NCDC said that any hospital that has a patient with acute respiratory illness, (including severe patients who has been hospitalised) presenting with fever, cough, difficulty breathing and who within 14 days before onset of illness has any one of the following exposures
“History of travel to China 14 days prior to symptoms onset or close contact with a confirmed case of nCoV infection or exposure to healthcare facility in a country where hospital associated nCoV infections have been reported, to immediately call the dedicated line.
According to the centre a probable case involves a suspect case for whom testing for 2019-nCoV is inconclusive or for whom testing was positive on a pan-coronavirus assay.
Under confirmed case, the centre enjoined any hospital that has a patient with laboratory confirmation of 2019nCov* infection with or without signs and symptoms to call the number.
Reports say the coronavirus outbreak has killed at least 259 people in China and infected close to 12,000 people globally, as it continues to spread beyond China.
The virus has already been confirmed in more than a dozen countries and territories since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.
CNN reports that countries were ending planes to evacuate their citizens from the infection zone, and imposing travel bans or restrictions on travelers from China.
It also said that nearly 60 million people were under lockdown in Chinese cities as international researchers race to develop a vaccine and halt its spread.
