- We’ve found cure for disease – Research prof
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, has disclosed that over 100 people, who have had one sort of contact or the other with the Italian national diagnosed with the new coronavirus infection, have been identified and quarantined.
According to him, there were 159 passengers on the aircraft with the Italian, six people came in contact with him at the hotel in Lagos, 35 had contact with him at the factory in Ogun State, two drivers and an ambulance driver also.
Professor Abayomi, who addressed newsmen shortly after the stakeholder’s meeting on Coronavirus held at Lagos House, Ikeja, said the State is exercising extreme caution by finding where all his contacts are – from the airline to the hotel that he stayed up to the factory that he went to work in Ogun State.
“Most of the contacts have been identified except a few who had either gone back to Europe or gone back to other States or country or had given false information on their forms. We are still trying to find the remaining passengers in the aircraft.
“Our contact list is over 100 and it is increasing everyday. We are quarantining them to check them for 14 days.
“They are staying either in medical facilities or at home and we are calling them twice a day just to check that they are okay. If they develop symptoms, we will bring them to our facility in Lagos to run the test.
“We are doing this because we don’t want to give the virus opportunity to spread from person to person, which will then be the beginning of an outbreak,” he said.
The Heath Commissioner also disclosed that the Italian national who is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) is doing very well and responding to treatment.
“We are very satisfied with his condition and as soon as he has recovered, he will be released to go back to his country, Italy,” he added.
The Professor further disclosed that the two suspicious cases sent by Ogun state to Lagos state on Sunday tested negative.
“We are very much on the look-out, our index of suspicion is very high; we have alerted all our facilities including private and public to be very cautious about anybody who presents fever, cold, difficulty in breathing, diarrhea or body pain.
“We have a very sophisticated laboratory in Yaba mainland hospital; we have a large number of beds dedicated to coronavirus; we have increased our capacity, so we are ready in Lagos,” he assured.
He, however, said the essence of the stakeholder’s meeting was to disseminate information as much as possible through pamphlets to the Local Governments, Community Development Associations (CDCs) down to the grassroots so that everyone can be aware of the typical features of coronavirus.
Earlier in his remarks, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state revealed that two additional containment centres have been created with 80 bed spaces and medical equipment to manage cases.
Sanwo-Olu, who is the Chief Incident Commander for the counter measures against coronavirus outbreak in Lagos state, added that there are two mobile isolation wards of 15-bed capacity each stationed in the hospital.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke after his visit to the state-owned bio-security and containment facility at the IDH in Yaba, Lagos, said he was highly confident in the response approach initiated by the State’s Incident Command Centre in the wake of the outbreak of the virus, expressing optimism that the nation would survive the epidemic and put it behind.
He re-assured Nigerians that the state remained committed to every effort geared towards preventing the human-to-human transmission of the virus, noting that the State and Federal Government healthcare officials had been working round the clock with infectious disease control professionals from the international agencies to ensure the counter-measures being deployed to contain the virus achieved the desired results.
While he frowned at misinformation trailing the COVID-19 case being managed at the IDH, he said that the public deserve to get accurate information about the management of the patient in isolation.
He therefore urged the media practitioners to approach the appropriate quarters for updates and developments on the case being managed.
Reacting to the report of scarcity of sanitary materials at pharmacy shops across the state, the Governor condemned the action, saying it was wicked for people to take advantage of emergency situation to hoard and jerk the prices of face masks and hand sanitizers.
“This should not be the means for anyone to enrich themselves. It is unfortunate that people are hoarding these important sanitary materials. We need to speak to ourselves.
“People are just abusing a rare opportunity, because the outbreak is not an event everybody wishes for. I think it is unacceptable for people to sell above the prices they used to sell before the outbreak,” he said.
Meanwhile, a drug that could be a potential treatment agent for the Coronavirus has been discovered by Bio-Resources Institute of Nigeria (BION).
President of the BION, Prof. Maurice Iwu, revealed this in Abuja on Monday when he led a team of scientists to present the discovery to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonayya Onu, Minister of State (Science and Technology), Mohammed Abdullahi and Minister of State for Health, Dr Adeleke Mamora.
“I am here to formally brief you about our drug discovery project, which has led to the identification of a potential treatment agent for Coronavirus infections,” Prof. Iwu said.
Prof. Iwu, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told the ministers that the compounds that make up the drug had exhibited significant antiviral activity against deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which is deadlier than COVID-19.
“Your Excellency will recall that when the Ebola virus infection broke out in 2014, many people were surprised that our research group had an experimental lead compound that was identified 15 years earlier in 1999.
“And now with the emergence of a novel Coronavirus in 2019, we had identified and patented a possible treatment back in 2015. It is very important that we must remain ahead of these emergent infecctions through research,” he added.
Prof. Iwu said the drug discovery project was started at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he was a Professor of Pharmacognosy and continued in the United States of America when he was a visiting scholar at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washinton DC.
This, he said, led to the confirmation of the anti-Ebola virus activity of three structurally characterised compounds from Nigerian plants that were subsequently granted patent protection by the government.
He revealed that one of the test compounds (BION-3) has a high potency to cure Coronavirus.
He said his institute had concluded arrangements with the Antiviral Program of the US National Institute of Health (US-NIH) to subject the compound to bioassay against the Wuhan Coronavirus.
“On Thursday 27th February 2020, the Bioresources Institute of Nigeria executed a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the U.S,” he said.
Responding, Dr. Onu said a committee would be set up to verify Iwu’s discovery.
The minister said the government would continue to support all Nigerian scientists to encourage them to do more.
Also speaking, Dr. Mamora said the ministry of health would partner with the scientists that discovered the COVID-19 drug.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonayya Onu said the Federal Government is confident that Nigerian scientists can cure the dreaded Coronavirus and Lassa fever.
Onu, who spoke during the final examination for the 774 Young Scientists Presidential Award in Abuja on Monday added that the future was bright for the country as Nigerian scientists were among the best in the world.
“Recently, I challenged Nigerian scientists to provide cure for the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19). I posed this challenge because I know Nigerian scientists can do it”, the minister said “On Thursday 27th February 2020, the Bioresources Institute of Nigeria executed a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the U.S,” he said.
Dr. Onu said a committee would be set up to verify Iwu’s discovery.
The minister said the government would continue to support all Nigerian scientists to encourage them to do more.
Dr. Mamora said the ministry of health would partner with the scientists that discovered the COVID-19 drug.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonayya Onu said the Federal Government is confident that Nigerian scientists can cure the dreaded Coronavirus and Lassa fever.
Onu, who spoke during the final examination for the 774 Young Scientists Presidential Award in Abuja on Monday added that the future was bright for the country as Nigerian scientists were among the best in the world.
“Recently, I challenged Nigerian scientists to provide cure for the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19). I posed this challenge because I know Nigerian scientists can do it,” the minister said.