The Ogun State Government on Sunday appreciated a young female doctor, Dr Amarachukwu Karen Allison, who suspected COVID-19  in the index case.

Dr Amarachukwu Karen Allison works with Lafarge Cement Company.

The state’s ministry of health on Saturday, March 21, in a series of tweets appreciated the doctor for her brilliant efforts.

The state government, in a statement by the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, said:

“A heightened index of suspicion, amongst frontline health workers such as Dr Amarachukwu Allison who suspected COVID-19 in the Italian; private health care providers are of keen note in this because they were the first port of contact for sixty per cent of the populace.”

The Italian, who is a consultant with Lafarge, reportedly spent the night at an undisclosed hotel near Lagos airport and moved to the company’s facility in Ewekoro, Ogun state, the next morning.

He was said to have spent the night at Lafarge’s facility when he fell sick and was taken to the company’s medical centre where preliminary diagnosis began.

After testing positive for the disease, he was subsequently quarantined at the Infectious Disease Centre in Yaba, Lagos state. He has since tested positive and has been discharged by the Lagos State medical outfit that treated him.

Responding to the Osun government’s tweet, Allison thanked God “for intuition and knowledge” and for the safety of her teammates.

“I want to thank God Almighty for intuition and knowledge and also for the safety of my teammates and I who worked together at the time,” she said.

“My special prayers to health workers around the world who have paid the supreme sacrifice and to all families who have lost loved ones. To all unsung heroes, thank you.”

She effectively enters the league of Stella Adadevoh, a Nigerian medic celebrated in the country for having kept out the Ebola epidemic from the country years back.

Adadevoh helped curb the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressures from the Liberian government.

See her tweet below:

I want to thank God Almighty for intuition and knowledge and also for the safety of my teammates and I who worked together at the time.

Special thanks to Lafarge, @NCDCgov @OGCovid19update @LSMOH @Fmohnigeria @IntlSOS for their prompt and professional https://t.co/Dm4cAU51ya

— Amarachukwu Karen Allison (@mzGolden17) March 21, 2020