Nigeria has recorded the first case of coronavirus, health officials confirmed Thursday.The Health Ministry said on Twitter that the case was in the state of Lagos, home to the southwestern commercial capital of the same name. Lagos is the biggest city in Africa’s most populous country, with a population of about 20 million.
“The case…is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January,” the health ministry said in its post, adding that the infection was confirmed on Thursday.
The health minister Osagie Ehanire, in a statement, said the case was an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos Feb. 25.
His infection was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
“The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms,” said the minister, adding that he was being treated at a hospital in the Lagos district of Yaba.
Read full statement below:
