Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun says the Italian national who tested positive to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has fully recovered and will soon be discharged from the isolation centre.
A statement made available to our correspondent on Friday in Abeokuta by the Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin quoted the governor to have disclosed this when the management team of Lafarge PLC, led by its Country Chief Executive Officer, Khaleed El Dokani, paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan in the state capital.
"He (the patient) is in good condition and would be discharged soon," Abiodun said, according to the statement.
The Governor described the virus as a serious threat to the status of Ogun as the nation's industrial hub. He vowed that the government would not lower its guard towards curtailing spread of the deadly virus in the state. "For us, the virus is a serious one and an issue that is in the front burner.
We will not lower our guard, particularly due to the fact that we have large number of industries and expatriates here. We are enjoying lot of supports from the World Health Organisation and the National Centre for Disease Control. We are going ahead to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," the governor was quoted as saying.
He applauded the company for its prompt response by quarantining the first index case and the first sets of contacts, urging the company to sustain the level of attention given to the issue.
The governor, however, lamented the deplorable condition of some roads due to use of heavy duty trucks owned by major companies, urging the company to look at ways of collaborating with state government in maintaining those roads. "The failure of some of these roads, like the Abeokuta-Ifo-Lagos road, is due to heavy duty trucks.
This road was not built to accommodate such trucks. Please look at the way you can collaborate with government in maintaining this road which is probably the second busiest in the country to alleviate the suffering of the people," the governor pleaded.
Speaking earlier, Dokani disclosed the company operates two factories located in Ewekoro and Sagamu, with a combined asset worth $1.3 billion and employing more than 500 people.
He said his company is looking at ways of providing affordable houses to the people in its areas of operation, just it has invested in a 50 Megawatts of power plant at Ewekoro, capable of producing 90 Megawatts, out of which 40 Megawatts, would be available for the national grid.
In another development, Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, says two out of the three suspected cases of coronavirus tested negative for the disease.
He said the result of the third suspected case is still being awaited.
On Thursday, Akin Abayomi, Lagos commissioner of health, disclosed that three patients, who returned from abroad, had been put in isolation for procedural checks.
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, the minister asked citizens not to profile foreign nationals over fears of the virus.
"As of the three cases, one of them, we are expecting the result; it takes some hours for the results to come out," he said.
"We must go away from the idea of focusing on Chinese or any particular nationality because a case that entered Nigeria, which is the index case is not Chinese.
"People should maintain good social distance. We have already strengthened the screening of every passenger that enters this country."
Nigeria recorded its first case on February 26. The index case is an Italian who came into the country for business.
So far, this is the only case of coronavirus in the country.
The disease, which broke out in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, is taking a toll on countries globally.
Sources:
The Cable, Daily Trust
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