Nigeria has confirmed its first case of coronavirus. And it is an Italian man who arrived in Nigeria three days ago
The Health Ministry announced on its Twitter handle on Friday that the case was in the state of Lagos.
Lagos is the biggest city in Africa’s most populous country, with a population of about 20 million.
The health minister Osagie Ehanire, in a statement, said the case was an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos Feb. 25.
“The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms,” said the minister, adding that he was being treated at a hospital in the Lagos district of Yaba.
“We have already started working to identify all the contacts of the patient, since he entered Nigeria,” said Ehanire.
The minister said authorities have been strengthening measures to ensure an outbreak in Nigeria is controlled and contained quickly.
The numbers of coronavirus cases rose in Italy, France and Germany on Thursday as President Emmanuel Macron warned that the outbreak was “only at the beginning” and urged European nations to coordinate their action.
England’s chief medical officer has warned it is “just a matter of time” until coronavirus spreads in the UK, as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 16.
Three people tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK on Thursday, including the first confirmed case in Northern Ireland.
The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea crossed 2,000. Japan is closing schools to limit the spread of the outbreak. New cases continue to appear outside of China with Italy, Iran and Kuwait reporting more infections.
Stocks tumbled with equity markets in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia all losing more than 2%. U.S. health authorities moved to greatly expand the number of people who will be tested, adding travelers from several new countries and people with unexplained, severe respiratory illnesses. California is monitoring 8,400 people for signs of the virus after they traveled to Asia.
