Passengers on BA flight 75 of March 13 should self-isolate -Lagos Health Commissioner warns

Akin Abayomi, Lagos state commissioner of health, has advised passengers who came into Nigeria through the British Airways flight 75 on March 13 to stay at home and isolate themselves for 14 days.

Nigeria confirmed its third case of coronavirus (COVID-19) earlier in the day.

The patient, a 30-year-old Nigerian lady, returned from the United Kingdom on March 13 and was said to have come through the British Airways flight.

“Breaking! #COVID19Lagos Updates If you are a passenger on flight BA 75 that arrived in Lagos on 13th March 2020, stay at home and isolate yourself for 14 days. Call @LSMOH,” Abayomi said in a tweet.

“Hotlines now; 08000corona, 08023169485, 08033565529, 08052817243, 08028971864, 08059758886, 08035387653.”

Breaking! #COVID19Lagos Updates
If you are a passenger on flight BA 75 that arrived in Lagos on 13th March, 2020, stay at home and isolate yourself for 14 days.
Call @LSMOH hotlines now; 08000corona, 08023169485,
08033565529,
08052817243, 08028971864, 08059758886, 08035387653 pic.twitter.com/TIzkV3z0U0

— Prof. Akin Abayomi (@ProfAkinAbayomi) March 17, 2020

Abayomi said the patient has been moved from her home to the Infectious Disease Centre in Yaba area of the state, and that she is responding to treatment.

He said contact-tracing of all passengers and those who may have come in contact with the new case has commenced.

The commissioner also said there are three new suspected cases whose samples have been taken for tests.

“Right now we have three suspected cases in the facility. They have arrived yesterday in the evening and we are monitoring them,” he said.

“There is a Nigerian traveller from the US who returned to Lagos. He has been well up until yesterday when he developed some symptoms of high fever and body pains and because of his travel history, we thought it was important that we bring him into the Yaba hospital where we can monitor him for his clinical features and then run the test.

“We admitted him last night, he is doing relatively well. We have taken his samples this morning and we will know the results today.

“We have another traveller from the UK who came from UK on the 12th of this month. He has been well but he developed some symptoms but we went to identify him and we have taken his sample and we will run that test today. We have not admitted him because he has been complying with our isolation instructions and we will run his test today and give the results out to him as soon as it is ready.

“We have another traveller who came in from India through Cairo. He developed a high fever two days ago. We decided that, although there is no intensive transmission in the India continent because he transitted through Cairo where we know there a number of cases now.

“We decided that we would contain him at the facility, run his test because his fever was quite high and he is coughing. So it is possible he fits the definition we are looking for but we cannot confirm that until we get the result.”