The minister of health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that the number of Ebola Virus Disease in the country has risen to 18, the latest casualty being the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor.
He disclosed this in a statement by his special assistant on media and communication, Dan Nwomeh, on the update of the status of EVD in Nigeria.
According to the minister, the total number of cases successfully managed and discharged is now eight while deaths from the fever is now seven.
He said, “The last case to be discharged, the first secondary contact to be diagnosed and a spouse of a primary contact of the index case went home from the isolation ward in Lagos yesterday.
“The ninth survivor is the ECOWAS Commission official who evaded surveillance in Lagos and travelled to Port Harcourt where he infected the doctor who attended to him).”
He gave the breakdown of deaths: “One, the index case, occurred in a private hospital in Lagos, four in the Lagos isolation ward, one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward (the female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted), while another one was the doctor who was infected by the ECOWAS Commission official in Port Harcourt and who did not come under the care and management of the Incident Management Committee.” [eap_ad_2] According to the minister, the total number of EVD patients currently under treatment is two, one in the Lagos isolation ward and another one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward
“Total number of contacts currently under surveillance in Lagos is 41, while Port Harcourt has 255. Total number of contacts discharged in Lagos after they were observed for 21 days is 320.”
The minister also debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt.
These include the three reported cases in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and one case in Calabar.
The minister further refuted the story that the body of the late Port Harcourt doctor was transported to Edo or Delta State, saying the body has been decontaminated and would be interred in Port Harcourt.
Regarding the rumoured case in Zaria, he said the blood sample had been sent for Ebola testing.
Meanwhile, the cost of getting supplies needed to West African countries to get the Ebola crisis under control will be at least $600 million, the senior United Nations Coordinator for Ebola Disease, Dr David Nabaroo, told reporters yesterday.[eap_ad_3]
