Federal government reacts to alleged new Ebola case in Nigeria

FG urges Nigerians to disregard messages that'll cause panic and harm to innocent people

The government said it has intensified efforts at various ports entry in the country to ensure that sick people coming to Nigeria are properly screened.

Recently, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have witnessed another outbreak of the virus in their countries.

In a bid to dispel the rumour and allay the fear of Nigerians, the Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health, Abdullaziz Abdullahi in a statement signed by the Director, Media and Public Relations of the ministry, Boade Akinola stated that a recent risk assessment conducted by the Nigeria Ebola Preparedness team has shown that the overall risk of importing the disease from Congo and Uganda to Nigeria was very low, Punch reports.

Abdullahi also said that described the an alleged message circulating on social media about a purported fresh case of the disease in Nigeria as false.

He therefore urged Nigerians to discourage circulation of such messages saying it could cause harm to innocent people and unnecessary panic among the citizens.

He said, “FG (has) assured (citizens) that since the reports of outbreak of EVD in the Democratic Republic of Congo, heightened surveillance had been on-going at the various points of entry by officials of the Port Health Services division of the ministry to prevent importation into Nigeria. To this effect, every sick passenger has been properly screened and I can say categorically that none of the patients screened has tested positive for Ebola or any deadly disease.

“In line with WHO’s guidelines, a recent preliminary risk assessment conducted by the Nigeria Ebola Preparedness team, coordinated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control indicated that the overall risk of importation of EVD to Nigeria from Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is low, but we are not resting on our oars in view of trading activities of Nigerians.

“The Nigerian government remain fully committed while working closely with the WHO, state ministries of health, partners and all other stakeholders, to protect the health of all Nigerians. However, necessary protocols are being followed in line with international Health Regulations.”

In May 2019, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has claimed 1,000 lives, and according to reports, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) was worried it will continue to snowball.