At a press conference in Lagos yesterday, Jide Idris, the state’s Health
Commissioner, told journalists that five new suspected Ebola virus
cases were brought to the isolation ward of the Yaba Mainland Hospital
in Lagos on Tuesday, with two of these 5 cases being secondary contacts
linked to Patrick Sawyer-the Liberian-American who imported the virus
into the country.
But
the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu later issue a statement to deny the claim, saying reports
of five new cases “should be disregarded” as he alone had the authority
to announce confirmed cases of disease epidemics. Speaking further on
Friday, the minister said the number of deaths from Ebola remained five
and while the number of those who had recovered from the virus
similarly remained five.
“Nigeria has now recorded the first two cases of secondary contacts with Ebola.
They are spouses of the late primary contacts,” he said. “This now brings
to four, the number of those under treatment at the isolation ward for
Ebola.
“In
all, there are 14 recorded cases of Ebola in Nigeria.” Chukwu also said
that 67 persons under surveillance had completed the 21 days incubation
period for Ebola, and had been discharged. “As of today, there are 213
people under surveillance,” he added.
He
also disclosed that the six persons under surveillance in Enugu had not
developed symptoms of Ebola, but they are “still being monitored”.
“The
federal government, working with the Lagos state government and other
partners, will continue to maintain vigilance, continue to strengthen
our containment activities and wishes to reassure the Nigerian public
and the global community that efforts will not relent until the very
last case of Ebola Virus Disease is seen in Nigeria,” he added.
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