Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu
Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that the number of Ebola Virus Disease patients in the country has risen to 18, the latest casualty being the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor.
This is contained in a statement by his special assistant on media and communication, Dan Nwomeh, on the update of the status of EVD in Nigeria.
It said the total number of cases successfully managed and discharged was now eight, while deaths from the fever was now seven.
Continuing, the statement 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 traveled to Port Harcourt, where he infected the doctor who attended to him)”.
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”.
According to the minister, the total number of EVD patients currently under treatment was 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 debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt.
He also 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.
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