Following the rate of spread of the novel Coronavirus outbreak from China, the Lagos State government has ordered all returning travelers from China and those exposed to travelers from China to observe self-quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Lagos.
The state government has also dismissed reports that a case of novel Coronavirus has been recorded in the state, noting that the person in question who traveled from China has no sign of the virus.
Also, the outbreak has so far killed 305 persons, infected at least 14,628 persons, and has now spread to 28 nations with case fatality rate placed at 2.2 per cent.
An advisory issued Sunday by the Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the unsupervised self-quarantine in Lagos was the first step in containing the virus in the state.
Abayomi said: “Self-quarantine is a public health strategy used to separate and isolate individuals who may have been exposed to a communicable disease. This will help us protect individuals who may have been exposed and the general public.
“During unsupervised self-quarantine, we expect persons concerned to respond to the state advice and act like responsible citizens. You are required to restrict your movement to your home, monitor yourself closely, report any symptoms that may develop to the ministry of health on the contact numbers provided and engage in good personal hygiene”, Abayomi said.
While giving further details on the self-quarantine strategy, the commissioner explained that persons observing self-quarantine must stay at home during the whole duration of the self-quarantine, and must avoid workplace, minimise contact with family members, ensure no contact with visitors, refrain from attending or going to public or social functions and must not ride or fly in any mode of public transportation.
“You must monitor yourself closely and diligently during the self-quarantine period, to identify if you develop symptoms including, but not limited, to headache, cough, sore throat, fever, chest pain, chills, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties and pneumonia”, he added
Abayomi stressed the need for citizens observing self-quarantine who develop any of the aforementioned symptoms to immediately contact the Ministry of Health on 08023169485, 08033565529 and 08052817243 for further instructions.
“Novel Corona Virus Infection has an incubation period of 5 to 14 days. This means if you have been in China or any other country that is now experiencing Corona virus transmission from person to person, you may become unwell after a period of 5 to 14 days of your return. If you feel unwell or develop symptoms, immediately contact the Ministry of Health on the numbers provided to communicate how you are feeling”, he said.
The commissioner who also dismissed a misinformation making the rounds especially on social media that a case of novel Coronavirus had been recorded in the State said Lagos State had no suspected or confirmed cases of Corona Virus infection.
He urged citizens to disregard the misinformation as well as any other information about the virus that did not emanate from his office, the State Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Health or the National Centre for Disease Control.
“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. Through our strategic initiatives with Federal Authorities we are putting higher levels of surveillance into effect at all international airports in Nigeria including Lagos to ensure that we minimize the threat of entry of any cases of Corona Virus,” Abayomi stated.
Meanwhile, countries so far affected are; Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Macau, Australia, Hong Kong, United States, France, Vietnam, Canada, UAE, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Cambodia, Finland, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Finland, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Phillipine which has had one fatality, and of course China, which has had 304 deaths as at Sunday.