Nigeria Breathes Again After Corpse Flown In From DRC Tests Negative For Ebola

By SIMON ATEBA

Fears that a corpse brought into Nigeria from the Democratic Republic of Congo could throw Africa’s most populous nation into another cycle of panic have been allayed after the body tested negative for the Ebola virus.

Local newspaper, ThisDay, quoted the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, as saying that a test was carried out and had tested negative for the virus, but he refused to divulge the cause of the deceased’s death, citing medical confidentiality.

THISDAY had learnt on Tuesday that the corpse of a young man was flown in onboard a Kenya Airways flight and quarantined by the Port Health Services (PHS) to ascertain if the death of the deceased was caused by the Ebola virus, since the DRC is currently facing another outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever.

But the test came back negative.