*Commences contact tracing for 1,300 persons
By Martins Ifijeh
The Lagos State Government has recorded four new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 12.
It also noted that it has now commenced contact tracing for 1, 300 persons who have had contact with the new cases and the previously announced six.
Although one of the 12 cases had been discharged after his viral load regressed to negative, 11 are now placed under isolation and treatment at the Infectious Disease Centre in Yaba, Lagos.
Disclosing this during a press briefing Thursday, the Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi said 19 people were tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday in Lagos and that four out of them had tested positive to the virus and had been isolated for treatment.
He said: “The first of the four new cases who tested positive to the disease was a woman who had contact with the female patient who came from United Kingdom some days ago.
“The second new case is a female who returned from France on March 14 on a Turkish airline, TK 1830.
“The third case is a Nigerian male in his 50s who had not travelled anywhere, but was tested positive to the disease.”
Abayomi stated that the fourth new case was a Nigerian male who arrived the country on March 13 from Frankfurt to Lagos on Lufthansa airline, flight number LH568.
The commissioner, however, said more tests were still being carried out, saying that it was clear that there were combination of imported cases and local transmission.
“The Executive of Lagos State is meeting on the next stage on social distancing. The best way to slow the rate is to halt movement of the virus from person to person,” he said.
He appealed to people on the two flights to self-isolate themselves and to reach the government.
“Currently, we are following over 1,300 people right now to find information about the state of their health and the number is increasing,” he added.
