Ebola Virus: FG Orders More Liberians In Calabar To Lagos For Screening

Onyebuchi Chukwu, Nigeria Minister For Health

In a bid to ensure that the Ebola virus does not spread, following  the death of a Liberian national in Lagos last week, the Federal Government yesterday ordered  six persons made up of Liberians and other West Africans from Ebola-afflicted countries currently attending an ECOWAS meeting in Calabar to return to Lagos for further examination and screening.

According to www.thisdaylive.com, in what can be described as contact tracing, the crew of the airline that brought the deceased to Nigeria and all the personnel of the hospital where he died have been screened.  Also, being targeted for screening are all the passengers that flew in  from Monrovia, made a stopover in Lome  before coming to Nigeria. There are 30 or so passengers, mostly non-Nigerians, that have been identified for screening.

It is believed that the federal health authorities have ordered more equipment to detect carriers of the virus.  The move came amid growing concern on how to prevent travellers from Ebola-infested countries from entering Nigeria.

Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, in an exclusive interview, told www.thisdaylive.com that government had to call for the return of the six persons in Calabar to Lagos so as to ascertain whether there were other cases of Ebola virus in Nigeria.

A Liberian government official, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who was billed to attend the ECOWAS meeting in Calabar took ill from the contagious Ebola on Tuesday, July 22 and later died on Friday, July 25. Chukwu, in the interview with THISDAY, denied that Sawyer was also in Calabar, stressing that, "everyone is doing his or her job; the Ministry of Health is not [the] Immigration, we have Port Health Service in all the international airports and seaports.  We also have offices across the 22 legal crossing points taking care of such cases."

The minister explained that it was in that regard that, "Mr. Sawyer was immediately handled to isolate him from the public.  We have also ordered the recall of six other persons attending the meeting in Calabar to Lagos to be observed, screened and examined," he said.
Source: www.thisdaylive.com