Lagos (AFP)

A case of contamination with the new coronavirus was confirmed in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, recalling the fears triggered during the Ebola epidemic which had affected this sprawling megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants six years ago.

The Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire announced "a case of coronavirus (Covid-19) in the state of Lagos. This case which was confirmed on February 27, 2020 is the first to be recorded in Nigeria since the beginning of the epidemic, "he said on Twitter.

The minister said he was an Italian working in Nigeria where he returned from the Italian city of Milan on February 25. Italy is one of the main sources of contamination of the coronavirus in Europe.

"The patient is in stable clinical condition and has no worrying symptoms," said the minister, adding that he was hospitalized in a center specializing in infectious diseases in Lagos.

It is the first confirmed and official contamination in sub-Saharan Africa, hitherto apparently preserved from the global epidemic.

- Vulnerable country -

Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent with nearly 200 million people, is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world with a fragile health system and a very high population density (nearly 7,000 inhabitants per km2, according to World Population Review).

In 2014, when the first case of Ebola was reported in Lagos, the country's economic capital, the whole world had held its breath and a wind of absolute panic had spread in the city.

Finally, only seven people died, out of 19 contaminated, from this highly contagious disease which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between the end of 2013 and 2016.

WHO hailed "spectacular success" in the face of what could have become "an apocalyptic urban epidemic": Lagos State authorities had reacted in time, medical personnel from international foundations stationed in Abuja were deployed , and the disease had remained confined to the upmarket areas of the city.

Many Nigerians leave for China to buy goods which they then resell on the markets of this economic hub which serves all of West Africa, and the Nigerian health authorities had already prepared themselves to face a potential contamination .

"We have quarantine centers in Abuja (federal capital), and also in Lagos," said Health Minister Olorumibe Mamora in mid-February, saying the country was "under surveillance" and that laboratories to detect the virus has been opened in several cities across the country.

- "Ebola lessons" -

"We have learned from Ebola," said Waho (West African Health Organization) chief executive Stanley Okolo.

The "main concern" of WHO "continues to be the potential for the spread of Covid-19 in countries with more precarious health systems," said his boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Located in a tropical zone not far from the equator, Nigeria is a breeding ground for viruses and it has had to face diseases as rare as dangerous (Ebola, poliomyelitis, meningitis, Lassa fever ...).

It is better prepared for managing epidemics than many other countries in the region, according to experts.

In a country where the smallest "average" city borders on a million inhabitants and which has two megalopolises of more than 10 million inhabitants, the pressure from international partners, and in particular from WHO, is very important.

Nigeria has planned 427.3 billion naira (800 million euros) for the health sector in 2020 (4.1% of its budget, far from the WHO recommendations which were high more than 13% of the budget).

The lack of infrastructure, the obsolescence of equipment, but also the inability of patients to pay for their treatments or the massive departure of its doctors abroad, make the leading oil exporter in Africa one of the continent's worst students in health matter.

© 2020 AFP