The death of Liberian, Patrick Sawyer in Lagos from the Ebola virus caused panic in the populace but the Ministry of Health has said that there is no reason to fear. The Lagos State Government has stated that a total of 59 people came in contact with Mr. Sawyer, including 44 health care workers and 15 other people at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, but that no one has been infected with the virus. This was disclosed yesterday by Dr. Jide Idris, the Commissioner for Health in the state. He added further that this did not include the people who flew in the same Asky Airline plane as the deceased Liberian as the flight manifest had not yet been released. According to him: “So far, 59 contacts have been registered, consisting 44 hospital contacts (38 health care workers and six laboratory staff) and 15 airport contacts. The 15 airport contacts comprise three ECOWAS staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol Officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Monrovia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers. As of the time of this report, 20 contacts had been physically screened of which 50 per cent had type one contact and 50 per cent had had type two contact.” “Airline manifest has not been provided by the airline and therefore the precise number of passenger contacts has yet to be ascertained, especially as two flights were involved (Monrovia- Lome and Lome-Lagos). There was no report of medical incident and the General Declaration report of the flight.” The commissioner advised Nigerians not to panic confirming that nobody in the country had been infected with the virus, and that state and the federal governments were working to ensure that the virus did not infect anybody in the country. “We can categorically state that as of today, we have only one case of imported Ebola and death. No Nigerian is infected, but all contacts are being actively followed. “We call on all Nigerians to be calm and not panic. We assure them that both the state and the Federal Government are up in arms to ensure that the virus did not escape and that no Nigerian is infected with this virus.” he added. 40-year-old Mr. Sawyer died in Lagos on July 25 after coming into the country for a conference. Meanwhile the operations of Asky Airlines into the country have been suspended and Arik Air has also announced a suspension of its flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone due to the Ebola scourge.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:43:55 +0000
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