Tobias Sylvester
There was pandemonium on Friday at the Nigerian Immigration office in Lagos State, after a Chinese woman fell down and started vomiting in the public.
The Chinese woman was said to have held her stomach and fell down before she could explain what was wrong with her. Report said no one went near her upon noticing she was Asian.
According to The Sun, police officers, military personnel, passport seekers, officers of the Immigration and visitors took to their heels when they saw her vomiting, as they all suspected that she was infected with the coronavirus COVID-19.
Many people were injured while other lost their documents as they scampered for safety during the incident.
An Immigration officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was as if death had visited the place as workers and visitors ran for safety.
“The lady came to the operations department for some visa issues, she wore mask when she came on Thursday, but she could not finish with what she came to do. She repeated her visit on Friday, but this time around, she did not masked her face. As she was being attended to, she started feeling dizzy, fell down and started coughing and vomiting. My brother, everybody took to his or her heels’’, he declared.
Continuing, he said: “The worst of it all was that her relations wanted to take her away, but our officers prevented them.
“We were able to kit ourselves and took her to a room. But those who were not courageous enough hurriedly closed for the day while people who came for one transaction or the other abandoned whatever they came to do.
“The worst thing is that we have been calling health emergency numbers and they have been promising that they were coming but we are yet to see them, but we are keeping vigil until they come. We won’t let her go.”
The woman, according to him, kept insisting that nothing was wrong with her, she not be allowed to go until health officers carry out comprehensive check on her.
“We are not saying that she has the virus, but with the symptoms she was exhibiting, we won’t let her go till medical experts examine her. Yes, we are handing her over to the appropriate office and not to her embassy, he declared”.
A visitor to the Immigration Office who witnessed the drama, John Madu, told The Sun:
“I only came to make enquiry when I saw people running helter skeletal and I joined in the rat race. I was later told that a Chinese woman fell down and started vomiting.
“My fear is that they said she was also there the previous day. If she test positive to the virus, how will the government locate those that she would have had contacts with.
“We are lucky because people were not as many as they used to be in the office because of the travels ban to certain countries. Before now, people used to visit the place in their hundreds, but there were not up 100 people at the scene.”
As at time of writing this report, the cause of her ailment was not ascertained.
