The Lagos State Government says a patient that was suspected to have contracted the deadly coronavirus on Wednesday, has tested negative.
A press statement by the Lagos State Ministry of Health on Wednesday night said the attention of the Lagos State Ministry of Health has been drawn to news making the round about a “suspected case of coronavirus at the Reddington hospital in Lagos.”
The government said action had been taken by the Ministry of Health and that the situation was currently being investigated.
The government said the patient has been isolated at the Mainland Hospital and that blood samples had been taken for investigation, while the result was being awaited.
“Lagos State Government has said that the Chinese citizen who presented at the Reddington Hospital, Ikeja yesterday and suspected to have coronavirus has tested negative to the infection.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi noted that the likelihood of #COVIDー19 infection in this particular patient was very low and the conclusion of investigations and sophisticated testing confirms that there is no case of coronavirus in Lagos as of now.
“I would like to reassure Lagosians that our vigilance levels are very high and we are putting more measures in place to safe guard the State,” the statement read.
While giving details of the investigation, Prof. Abayomi explained that the Ministry of Health’s attention was drawn to a suspected case of coronavirus at Reddington Lagos
Hospital; a private health facility located at Ikeja.
“From our investigation, we gathered that a Chinese citizen who arrived in Nigeria from China seven weeks ago presented at the Hospital yesterday complaining about fever”
“The hospital in keeping with the advisory we earlier issued, correctly maintained a high index of suspicion, isolated the patient and reported the case to Lagos State Ministry of Health.”
“We took up the case, transferred the patient to the State Isolation Unit at the Mainland hospital which is our specialised infectious disease hospital. His blood samples were taken to the Virology laboratory for analysis and it came out negative”, the Commissioner said.
Prof. Abayomi appealed to citizens to refrain from posting unverified news that can cause unnecessary anxiety in community.
He urged citizens to disregard any information about #COVIDー19 that does not emanate from official communication channels of Lagos State Ministry of Health or his office.
