The Management of Lafarge Plc has revealed that the Italian who brought Coronavirus to Nigeria first slept at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos before coming to the company in Ogun State.
The 44-year-old Italian was diagnosed with the deadly disease on Thursday, a situation that has sent panic across the nation.
Industrial Director, Lafarge Plc, Segun Soyoye, said the Italian came to Lafarge facilities at Ewekoro to inspect some installations of machines bought from a Swedish firm.
He spoke at the Lafarge facility during an on-the-spot-assessment by the Ogun State Government, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) teams at the weekend.
Soyoye added that the Italian did not go behind Lafarge guest house at Ishofin Estate before he was evacuated having developed abnormal temperatures that suggested he had been infected with Covid-19.
“The Italian came for a business visit. He was in Lagos on Monday and slept at Airport Hotel, Ikeja. Our driver took him there, and when we observed abnormal temperatures and symptoms, we quickly instituted an Emergency Response Team which is led by the Company’s CEO; we have to find a way of analysing and identifying not only the Italian but also the other contacts,” he said in a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to him, “the contacts are now 39 and we have quarantined them, the house and clinic as well as the vehicles. We don’t take chances that is why they are put there.
“They will be there for 14 days. We will continue to observe them, we have their database, showing their biodata and other information. The doctor is here and what he is doing is to check them on a regular basis. So far everybody is stable, they are not symptomatic, we are providing everything for them over there.
“The other thing that I have not said is that the clinic that was used for the infected person is closed, disinfected and we moved everybody out.
“All the guys on duty that day, they were also quarantined, so they will be there for 14 days as well,” Soyoye said.
Also, Mr Ibrahim Mamadu, the Team Leader of World Health Organisation (WHO) Nigeria, also commended the internal processes undertaken so far by Lafarge Africa to contain the deadly disease.
He, however, advised the company and others to acquire digital thermometers to check body temperatures instead of infrared thermometers for accurate body temperature readings.
