Nigeria Making Progress In Containing Ebola, Says Minister

BEVERLY HILLS, September 01, (THEWILL) -The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said Monday that the Federal Government was making appreciable progress in containing the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.

He stated this in Abuja while speaking at the second emergency meeting of the National Council on Health (NCH) to appraise the efforts made so far in tackling EVD in the country.

The Minister, who is the chairman of the Council, said as of 31st August, 2014, the total number of cases of EVD in Nigeria stands at 17 while the total number of cases treated at the isolation ward in Lagos State stands at 13 .

He stated further that the total number of those discharged is seven while the total number of deaths among those treated in Lagos is five.

The Minister gave the total number currently under treatment in Lagos as two, saying both patients were stable, stressing that the three confirmed cases not treated in Lagos comprised a surviving primary contact of the index case (Patrick Sawyer): an ECOWAS Commission staff who became symptomatic, evaded surveillance in Lagos, travelled to Port Harcourt and infected his attending physician.

The victim, according to the Minister, is currently under quarantine in Lagos at the moment, undergoing further tests to ensure he is totally free from the virus.

He listed the others to include a private medical practitioner who was infected and died while treating the ECOWAS Commission staff and a female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt Doctor was also admitted. The female patient , he said, is presently under treatment in the Isolation ward in Rivers State.