17th March, 2020
An Indian contractor staff with Dangote Industries Limited has been quarantined for Coronavirus at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Management of the Dangote Industries Limited in a statement on Tuesday said its attention had been drawn to a flash report of a suspected case of personnel currently being kept in isolation at the Mainland hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
The Company said “We will like to state that an Indian national who is a staff of Onshore Construction Company-a mechanical, electrical and instrumentation contracting firm that specialises in fertiliser construction reported at the Site clinic complaining of high temperature and fever.
“His complaint triggered our Protocols which necessitated further screening and isolation immediately. Mr. Akhil Kunyil, of the Health and Safety Environment of the Onshore Company reported the development to the management following which local authorities were contacted. The patient was immediately conveyed to the Lagos Mainland Hospital Center, where he is currently being isolated and undergoing tests.”
It stated that “As an organisation, we have taken the following stringent proactive measures across our entire group since mid- January 2020, which are; development of a comprehensive risk identification, control priotization and escalation plan; identification and retention of a competent team of medical consultants and travel ban for all employees to/from high risk countries as per World Health Organisation (WHO) publications of country exposures.
The statement said that other measures implemented were “travel tracking of all employees and contractors staff arriving/leaving Nigeria and obligations for completion of medical checks to validate health status; implementation of use of Thermal cameras across our various sites as well as infrared thermometers checking in smaller office locations; identification and creation where applicable of holding, isolation and quarantine areas; implementation of use of sanitizers across all locations: sites and offices and multiple and continuous awareness campaigns on preventative measures to be taken both electronic and physical announcements.”
It added that the above measures were continually updated as the situation globally evolved and “we will continue to do so. The welfare of our employees and the nation as a whole remains our utmost priority.”