Lagos State Government says the Chinese citizen suspected to have coronavirus has tested negative to the infection.

The Commissioner for Health in the state, Professor Akin Abayomi, confirmed this in a statement on Thursday, a day after the patient presented himself at a hospital in Ikeja.

He noted that the possibility of the infection of the virus, also known as COVID-19, in this particular patient was very low.

Professor Abayomi disclosed that the conclusion of investigations and sophisticated testing confirmed that there was no case of coronavirus in Lagos State as of now.

“I would like to reassure Lagosians that our vigilance levels are very high, and we are putting more measures in place to safeguard the state,” he was quoted as saying in the statement by the ministry’s spokesman, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo.

While giving details of the investigation, the commissioner explained that the Ministry of Health’s attention was drawn to a suspected case of coronavirus at a private health facility located at Ikeja.

“From our investigation, we gathered that a Chinese citizen who arrived in Nigeria from China seven weeks ago presented at Reddington Hospital yesterday (Wednesday) complaining about fever.

“The hospital, in keeping with the advisory we earlier issued, correctly maintained a high index of suspicion, isolated the patient and reported the case to the Ministry,” the commissioner said.

He added, “We took up the case, transferred the patient to the State Isolation Unit at the Mainland Hospital which is our specialised infectious disease hospital.

“His blood samples were taken to the virology laboratory for analysis and it came out negative.”

Professor Abayomi, therefore, appealed to the residents to refrain from posting unverified news that could cause unnecessary anxiety in the community.

He also urged them to disregard any information about the novel coronavirus that does not emanate from official communication channels of the Ministry of Health or his office.