The Italian man who first brought the deadly COVID-19 virus to Nigeria has been discharged after testing negative for the virus.
This news was made known by the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday on his verified twitter handle. Sanwo-Olu wrote:
As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos State, I am glad to inform you that the index case, the Italian gentleman is now negative.
Through a combined effort of Lagos State, Ogun State and Federal Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact.
This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies. However we now have several new imported cases and we hope to apply the same contact tracing strategy along with social distancing to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from these new cases.
The index patient agreed to donating one unit of white blood (also known as plasma) before he was discharged yesterday. The blood plasma is rich in antibody proteins that target #COVID19 virus.
The white blood plasma is frozen in our Bio-bank and will be useful in handling new cases.
The blood plasma will be beneficial for the treatment of new patients in the absence of a defined therapeutic drug for #COVID19 yet.
The index patient of Coronavirus in Nigeria appreciated the exceptional care and support given to him by staff of the mainland infectious Disease Hospital,Yaba, all members of the EOC / @followlasg.
The EOC team was extremely happy to bid the patient farewell.