Dr Bankole Akinwale, The Centre Manager of the Lagos State Biobank, has disclosed that the Italian man who also happens to be the first person to have tested positive for coronavirus in Nigeria is fast recovering.

According to the doctor, the Italian man is not only recovering, but he is also now eating a Nigerian local meal, “amala”.

“Lagos happens to be one of the states in Nigeria among West African countries with biosecurity facility, while South Africa has one.

“This shows that we had what it takes to handle the coronavirus case when it came into the country, it didn’t take us time to diagnose if it’s actually COVID -19,” says Dr Bankole

“There is no state in Nigeria that has it, (the bio-facility centre), except Lagos, that’s why Ogun State referred it to Lagos.

“That’s why we have been able to handle the case when it came into the country, it didn’t take us time to diagnose if it’s actually COVID -19.”

“As at today, we are expected to check two other patients being suspected for COVID-19.”

“If we do not have such facility how do we diagnose. The normal laboratories can’t do it because it is risky to manage such a highly infectious virus.”

“In the case we are handling, we have gone to decontaminate the hotel where the Italian lodged and keep tracing the contacts and following upon them. The essence of that is to break and stop the spread of the disease,” Dr Bankole continued.