Nigeria has confirmed the second case of coronavirus in the country.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, announced this on Monday at a press conference in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

Ehanire briefed reporters at the boardroom of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, where he gave an update on the coronavirus infection in the country.

He, however, noted that the newly confirmed case was a contact of the index case and not an importation into the country.

“This second case is a contact of the index case, in Ogun state. The new case has been in isolation and was tested as part of our strategy to test all contacts of the index case”

“It is my duty to announce a new coronavirus disease in Nigeria. The newly confirmed case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, but he has no significant clinical symptoms. This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria today to 2”.

“I repeat that the newly confirmed case is not a new importation, but a contact of the index case, who has since been in isolation and was under clinical follow up. He presently does not have any clinical symptoms, is comfortable and in care at the infectious disease Hospital in Lagos”, the minister said.

“One of the important response strategies at the containment stage has been to identify all contacts, ensure their strict isolation, and to follow up daily with checks for any symptoms of the disease.

“Following recent experience from other countries and evident from newly published studies on non-symptomatic infections, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), advised that samples should be taken from all contacts of the index case for testing.

“It is in this process that these two cases were detected.”