FG Confirms 10th Ebola Case In Lagos

The Federal Government has confirmed another Ebola case in Lagos bringing the total number of Ebola Virus Disease victims to 10, even as 177 primary and secondary contacts of the index case have been placed under surveillance or isolation.

At a world media briefing in Abuja Monday, the Minister of Health Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu said of these 10 cases, 2 have died (the Liberian American and the Nigerian nurse) while 8 are alive and currently on treatment.

“The 10th case actually was one of the nurses who also had primary contact with the index case. When he (Sawyer) got ill, we then brought her into isolation,” the minister told a news conference in Abuja.

“We just tested her over the weekend. So, that’s what made it 10. So, between Friday and today we had one additional case. That brings it to 10 and the 10 includes the index case.”

Chukwu said the nurse was currently undergoing treatment while her husband was under surveillance.

This is the situation 22 days since the dreaded EVD first landed in Nigeria.

At the sub regional level, the Ebola Virus Disease was discussed as a substantive agenda during the Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Accra Ghana.

Chukwu said  Nigeria, as usual, played its leading, pioneering and compassionate role during the Summit with the first and only donation of USD3.5 million humanitarian and capacity building aid to the three affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the West African Health Organization (WAHO), and the ECOWAS Ebola Fund.