Nigeria has confirmed the second case of coronavirus in the country. Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire said “the new contact is a victim who had contact with the Italian who imported it to Nigeria”.
He has been put in isolation as authorities continue to trace other possible contacts.
The first case of coronavirus in Nigeria was an Italian citizen who had travelled to Lagos from Milan on 24th February.
Dr Ehanire said 40 people in Ogun State and 20 others in Lagos who had contact with the Italian had been quarantined.
Meanwhile Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has announced the creation of a coronavirus task force to help control the virus in the country.
“This action is in preparation for the unlikely but probable major outbreak of the disease in the country which will require a multi-sectoral inter-governmental approach as advised by the World Health Organization, WHO, similar to that adopted for the HIV epidemic in the last 2 decades,” the president said in a statement.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has so far committed about N1bn to monitoring and preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
Last Sunday President Buhari sent messages to Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Moon Jae-in of Iran and South Korea respectively, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, expressing “deep sympathies” following increasing incidents of the deadly Coronavirus in their countries.
He said the Nigerian government will continue to diligently carry out its duty to the international community by ensuring that the spread of the disease is curtailed.
President Buhari also encouraged Nigerians to continue to show support to citizens of all the countries who are resident in Nigeria.