By Kenneth Jukpor
Following the uncertainty at seaports and airports with the outbreak of coronavirus, the President of Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) Nigeria, Mrs. Mary Hamman has urged relevant security agents at the nation’s entry points to be cautious.
Mary Hamman was speaking during an exclusive chat with MMS Plus newspaper last week, stressed that it was hightime Nigerian security operatives scrutinize foreign the same way the developed countries agents operate.
“If you’re going to the United States of America (USA), you know that you are going to be searched thoroughly. So, in Nigeria we should imbibe such practice especially with the emergence of coronavirus. This disease could be used as an agent to destroy Nigeria or any other nation.”
“Somebody can just conceive the thought as an individual to bring such disease to Nigeria or Africa. He or she may not be sponsored by anyone. Those at the borders must be alert and respond cautiously if there is any case. There should be quarantine and other measures to control this” Hamman said.
Meanwhile, a major breakthrough in the treatment of Coronavirus may be in the offing, as first surviving patient emerged, after being isolated and treated in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province.
The 55-year-old female patient, developed the symptoms in Wuhan, the home base Coronavirus on January 15th, mistook it for common cold; ran a fever which later subsided, before she travelled to Guangzhou on January 22, where it was later confirmed. She was thereafter isolated and treated for the new virus.
The president of the 8th People’s Hospital of Guangzhou, Lei Chunliang said the woman was admitted to hospital on January 22 and discharged January 30th.
Following her arrival in Guangzhou on January 21, the patient experienced coughing, headache and chest tightness and was subsequently isolated.
National diagnosis and treatment standards for medical discharge stipulates that patients should show stable body temperature for three consecutive days; show no pneumonia symptoms, and that nucleic acid test results must come back negative for two consecutive days.
Meanwhile, over 6,000 passengers who were kept on board a cruise ship in Italy all day Thursday amid fears that one of the passengers might have been infected with coronavirus have received clearance to disembark.
The World Maritime News said the decision was announced after a female passenger, who was experiencing flu-like symptoms and fever, underwent medical tests to rule out a possible link to the deadly coronavirus.
The woman in her 50s and her husband, both reportedly of Chinese nationality, boarded Costa Smeralda on Saturday, January 25, and were put in isolation on Wednesday night after coming down with the flu-like symptoms. The Italian authorities banned anyone from disembarking the ship until medical tests were conducted, putting the ship on lockdown.
