Coronavirus: 1 dead, patients rise to 36 • My son did not visit mosques, night clubs — Atiku

Nigeria has recorded its first death from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The number of confirmed cases of the disease also rose to 36 yesterday.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, in his update yesterday in Abuja, said 26 persons out of the 36 cases have travel history to affected countries in the last two weeks.

“Six are contacts of confirmed cases and four have no recent travel history or known contact,” he said.

He said of the 36 confirmed cases, 25 were in Lagos, six in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), two in Ogun, one in Edo, one in Ekiti and one in Oyo.

He said: “As of the 23rd of March 2020, 36 cases have been confirmed, 2 cases have been discharged and 1 death recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria. Of the 33 active cases, 32 are clinically stable with mild symptoms. One patient is oxygen-dependent.”

Dr. Ehanire urged all health facilities to be on high alert and that states, local governments, law enforcement authorities and community leaders should give full cooperation to investigators.

“The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is working closely with the state governments of all affected states to carry out contact tracing. Through intensified contact tracing, we have been able to promptly detect cases,” he said.

The minister said contact tracing was on-going to identify all persons who have been in contact with confirmed cases and that the ministry was working closely with states and the Presidential Task Force on the Control of COVID-19, to review response activities and to institute measures to protect the health of Nigerians.

Asked if the federal government will impose forced isolation, the minister said Nigerians should see self-isolation as a social responsibility. “We want to depend on the sense of responsibility of citizens,” he said.

He said the federal government had also directed states to co-opt retired doctors and nurses in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.