Nigeria’s Southwestern Ogun state government today revealed the identity of the doctor who suspected the index case of coronavirus in Nigeria.
The state ministry of health in a series of tweets appreciated the doctor, Amarachukwu Allison, whose vigilance and brilliance it said “led to the early diagnosis and rapid containment" of the first Covid-19 infection brought into the country by an Italian expatriate.
Allison is a doctor at Lafarge Plc, a cement manufacturer. The disclosure comes almost a month after the index case of the Italian who arrived in Nigeria on February 24, was confirmed by the Lagos State government and the Federal government.
The Italian, who is a consultant with Lafarge, reportedly spent the night at an undisclosed hotel near Lagos airport and moved to the company’s facility in Ewekoro, Ogun state, the next morning.
He was said to have spent the night at Lafarge’s facility when he fell sick and was taken to the company’s medical centre where preliminary diagnosis began.
After testing positive for the disease, he was subsequently quarantined at the Infectious Disease Centre in Yaba, Lagos state. He has since recovered and tested negative twice after that, and has thus been discharged by the Lagos State medical outfit that treated him.
Responding to the Osun government’s tweet, Allison thanked God “for intuition and knowledge” and for the safety of her teammates.
“I want to thank God Almighty for intuition and knowledge and also for the safety of my teammates and I who worked together at the time,” she said.
“My special prayers to health workers around the world who have paid the supreme sacrifice and to all families who have lost loved ones. To all unsung heroes, thank you.”
She effectively enters the league of Stella Adadevoh, a Nigerian medic celebrated in the country for having kept out the Ebola epidemic from the country years back.
Adadevoh helped curb the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressures from the Liberian government.
I want to thank God Almighty for intuition and knowledge and also for the safety of my teammates and I who worked together at the time.
Special thanks to Lafarge, @NCDCgov @OGCovid19update @LSMOH @Fmohnigeria @IntlSOS for their prompt and professional twitter.com/OGCovid19updat…
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