Ogun Quarantines Ewekoro Cement Factory, Vows to Track Every Contact By Italian Victim

As part of the ongoing contact-tracing efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19, the Ogun State Government, on Friday, announced that it had quarantined the entire facility of Lafarge Africa Plc at Ewekoro.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, who disclosed this at a press conference in Abeokuta, the state capital, said the whole facility of the cement factory was quarantined following the confirmation of the first case of  the disease in Nigeria.

The government revealed that the victim, an Italian who arrived Lagos on Tuesday from Milan, had visited the cement factory the same day.

The victim had developed fever and was treated at the clinic located within the company’s facility and was consequently rushed to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, on Wednesday when the case grew worse.

Tests later confirmed doctors’ worst fear. He had been infected by the coronavirus.

The Commissioner further announced that a team of epidemiologists have commenced line listing to detect all contacts that the victim, a consultant to the company, made during his visit to the company, the state by implication.

The Commissioner disclosed that the victim made three contacts before his arrival in Ogun State on Tuesday, but said it would be premature to give a specific number of contacts made by the Italian in Ogun State, especially “since the case was just confirmed on Friday.”

Vowing that all the contacts with the victim would be identified, Coker said: “In the last 12 hours, the first case of COVID-19 (coronavirus) has been identified in Nigeria and the individual visited Ogun State. The said individual is from Italy, a consultant to the cement factory at Ewekoro. He arrived Nigeria on Monday, 24 of February at about 9:00pm. Before arriving in Ogun State, he had made contact with three people, spent the night in Lagos and arrived on Tuesday morning in Ogun State. He stayed at a guest house and at about 4-5pm on Wednesday, he developed body ache and fever.

“The staff clinic were very sensitive to the case. They responded speedily and contacted Lagos, they had a high index of suspicion and once they contacted Lagos, the protocol kicked in and the individual was transferred to Lagos in a closed ambulance according to protocol.

“He was transferred to the infectious disease centre in Yaba, Lagos where tests were conducted and a definite confirmation came out earlier this morning hence, the press release nationally and from Lagos.

“However, my colleague, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos contacted me very early this morning to alert us about the situation.

“My message to the people of Ogun State is, there is no cause for concern. The epidemiologists in Ogun State being supported by both Federal and Lagos governments are line listing every contact that this individual has had which means we are going to phone them, get in touch with them, quarantine them and monitor their temperature for two weeks.

“Also, I’m urging us that individually we have to be responsible for our health. Every single one of us has to have good respiratory hygiene which means that if we have a cough or we have a cold, we have to cover our mouths with tussles or handkerchiefs and dispose them responsibly. Don’t leave them on surfaces because the virus could still be in those things, use them and dispose them immediately, don’t put them back in your pockets.”

As at Friday, coronavirus, now a global public health emergency, has killed 2,867 people and infected 84,124 since the viral infection was discovered in Wuhan, China.