Coronavirus: Italian came into Nigeria on Turkish Airlines

• Travelled to Ewekoro, Ogun State

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, has said the Italian citizen who tested positive for Coronavirus, on Thursday, in Lagos, came into the country from Milan, Italy through Istanbul, on Turkish Airlines, on Monday.

Abayomi at a media briefing on Friday said the patient slept over at a hotel in Lagos from where he left for Ogun State, where he lodged in an accommodation provided by his company.

The Commissioner revealed that the patient fell ill on Wednesday while still in Ogun State and was brought over to Lagos on Thursday, where he tested positive to COVID-19 and has been confined at the isolation facility at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba.

He noted that the patient was showing no acute symptoms of the virus yet, adding that the management of the company where the patient works in Ogun State has been cooperating with the State Government and had also put in place monitoring mechanisms for all those who came in contact with the patient.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mr Femi Hamzat, said the Italian visited Ewekoro, in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State.

READ: Nigeria records first Coronavirus case as Italian tests positive

He said this when he appeared on a programme on Television Continental on Friday morning.

According to Hamzat, the Italian had a consultancy job with a company in Ogun State.

He explained that the LASG had launched a manhunt for all contacts of the infected Italian.

He said, “The young man came in from Milan, Italy. He came in on February 25. He had a consultancy job with a company in Ogun State. He landed and went to Ewekoro, Abeokuta.

“He fell ill, so we sent an ambulance there and he was diagnosed within four hours. We are ready and prepared.

“We are trying to track everybody on the airplane he came in through – people that he had met, and then we can isolate them.”