TheCable

Akin Abayomi, Lagos state commissioner for health, says 179 persons in isolation over coronavirus have been released.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Abayomi said the suspects had contact with the index case, an Italian who brought the virus into the country.

He said 40 of them were held in Ogun state while the rest were quarantined in Lagos.

The commissioner said the patients have passed the mandatory 14 days in isolation with no symptom of the virus.

Abayomi added that the index case is still in isolation.

“He is perfectly well now. We are only keeping him because he still has some secretion of the virus. Test shows that anytime from now, he may be negative,” Abayomi said.

“If he is negative, we will conduct another test within 48 hours after and if he is still negative, we will set him free.

“We are close to discharging the index case, we want to be sure he poses no danger to the society anymore.

“The remaining contact in Ogun and Lagos state remain symptom-free and they have exceeded 14 days surveillance which means that we have been able to interrupt the transmission between the index case and others. The index case and its threat to Nigeria has been eliminated.

“Those isolated in Ogun state have been discharged, in Lagos, we will not follow up the contacts again because none of them has developed symptoms. We are discharging all. We believe that by being extremely aggressive, we will curtail the outbreak.”

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, had earlier confirmed that the second coronavirus case in the country has tested negative.