Nigeria is monitoring 58 people who had contact with an Italian man infected with the new coronavirus, the health minister said Monday, as officials scrambled to stop the disease spreading. He was quarantined at the Infectious Disease Hospital in the sprawling city of 20 million and was responding to treatment. “Currently, the contacts of the index case are identified as 19 contacts in Lagos and 39 contacts in Ogun state,” Health Minister Osagie Ehanire told reporters in Abuja, the nation’s capital. Nigeria is viewed as highly vulnerable to viral spread given its weak health system and high population density. Prior to the case in Nigeria, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, there had been just two cases on the continent — in Egypt and Algeria.

Source: The Guardian March 02, 2020 13:07 UTC