There is a potentially dangerous trend of coronavirus infections on the rise across the country.
Unlike the infant stages of imported cases, community spread is becoming prevalent, especially in Lagos State.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, raised an alarm on Monday about the high risk of local transmission.
Mr Abayomi revealed that as at week four, 82 percent of the COVID-19 cases were imported into the country while 45 percent had had no travel history the following week.
“At the end of week 4, 82% of the patients imported the disease from abroad while 18% had no travel history,” he said.
“By the end of week 5, 45% of the patients have no travel history. This shows that the importation is decreasing and local transmission is increasing.”
Considering the complexity associated with contact-tracing in Nigeria, that figure must have skyrocketed this week.
This is even worsened by an index case in Alimosho who is believed to have had contact with no fewer than 2000 persons before her death.
The 37-year-old new mum reportedly passed away due to complications from COVID-19 at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, last week Saturday.
It was gathered that the patient was delivered of her baby at the Lagos State Government-owned Alimosho General Hospital.
She, however, developed infections in the course of the childbirth and was subsequently brought to LASUTH where she was placed on admission for medical treatment.
It was not until after her death that she was confirmed to have contracted coronavirus.
While how she got the virus is still unclear, the authorities swung into action to trace her contacts.
Medical personnel that came into contact with her were advised to self-isolate, however, the worse transmission could have taken place outside the hospital perimeter.
Alimosho is the largest Local Government Area in Lagos State according to the 2006 census. With over 1.3 million inhabitants, it flaunts almost the same population as Bayelsa State.
In such densely populated area, local transmission is very much easy-peasy. No wonder the first case in Kano sent jitters all over the country.
Kano State is Nigeria’s most populated with 44 LGAs, confirming its index case on Saturday.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano tweeted afterwards saying that he is a former ambassador who had no travel history outside the country.
He wrote: “A 75-year-old former ambassador of the Federal Republic has been documented as the index case of COVID 19 in the state of Kano.
“Although he has no travel history outside the country, the former civil servant did return from Abuja on the eve of the state’s border closure.”
According to reports, the ex-diplomat travelled all the way from Lagos, stopped in Abuja before landing in Kano. However, the former ambassador claims not to recall all his contacts.
This creates another potentially dangerous situation in three major cities.
