Lagos witnessing rise in local transmission of Coronavirus cases since border closure – searching for 2,645 passengers

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has said the state has begun to witness more local transmission of COVID-19 cases since the borders and airports were closed.

At a briefing on Tuesday, Abayomi also said that the state is tracing 2,645 passengers of interest, saying that 352 of them have completed their 14-day isolation period.

He said, “We have 2,645 passengers of interest that we are tracing. 352 of them have completed their 14-day isolation and we are still following up with 2,293. In the next few days, most of them will exit their 14 days of isolation.

“The number of cases without a travel history has increased from 45 per cent to 80 per cent- that demonstrate that there is more local transmission going on as importation of cases is decreasing.

“Passengers of interest are the persons that have flown into Lagos on a flight where we have identified a confirm COVID-19 patient. The risk is that being on that flight with a confirmed case, they have been exposed and there is a possibility that they will manifest with COVID-19.”