The Liberian Government on Thursday apologised
to Nigeria over the importation of the deadly
Ebola Virus by a Liberian-born American,
Patrick Sawyer.
Sawyer arrived Lagos on July 20 from Lome but
died five days after he was admitted into a
hospital in Obalende when he showed Ebola virus
symptons.
The Liberian-born American came into contact
with 59 people in both the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport and the hospital. Eight of
the hospital contacts were quarantined at the
Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba. One of
them, a matron, who died on Tuesday became
the first Nigerian casualty. Five others, including
a female medical doctor, had as of Wednesday,
tested positive to the virus.
The Liberian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Nurudeem Mohammed, told journalists in
Abuja that President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, was
deeply sorry that Sawyer brought the virus to
Nigeria.
He said that the deceased was under
surveillance in Liberia but that he sneaked into
Lagos.
Mohammed said, “The Liberian President
President has personally called to apologise on
the unfortunate development.
“She specifically said her country had declared a
state of emergency over the Ebola epidermic in
Liberia.
‘She equally apologised that Sawyer ignored
medical advice and escaped out of Liberia.”
However, hopes that the United States may
send Zmapp, the experimental drug for Ebola
virus treatment, appear dashed going by US
President Barack Obama’s declaration that it
was too early for West African countries hit by
the outbreak to have it.
Obama made the US position known at a news
conference at the end of an African summit on
Wednesday. While he spoke at the event, the
Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, told
journalists in Abuja that he had written the US
Centre for Disease Control requesting for ZMapp.
On Thursday, Chukwu also told journalists that
he had yet to receive a response from the centre.
But Obama, according to The Independent of
London, said he lacked enough information to
give the green light on distributing the drug,
insisting the world must “let science guide us”
on its use.
“I don’t think all the information is in on whether
this drug is helpful,” the US President said,
adding that “Ebola virus both currently and in
the past is controllable if you have a strong
public health infrastructure in place.”
He said, “We’re focusing on the public health
approach right now, but I will continue to seek
information about what we’re learning about all
the drugs going forward.”
The Cable News Network also reported on
Thursday that Obama said, “The countries
affected(by the virus) are the first to admit that
what has happened is that their public health
systems have been overwhelmed. They weren’t
able to identify and then isolate cases quickly
enough.
“As a consequence, it spread more rapidly than
has been typical with the periodic Ebola
outbreaks that occurred previously.”
But Chukwu told journalists in Abuja on
Thursday that he was not aware that the US had
turned down requests for the experimental drug.
The minister, who inaugurated Defence
Identification Centre at the Mogadishu
Cantonment Abuja, said he was optimistic that
Nigeria would get positive response from the US.
Chukwu explained that the seeming delay might
be as a result of issues relating to the
production and supply of the drugs.
He stated also that the data of the drugs were
still being collected since it had been used on
human beings.
Chukwu however added that for now, nobody
was sure of the efficacy of the drug and whether
its side effects would outweigh its benefits or
not.
He said, “Well, we are waiting for a response
from them (US); we have made the request but
of course, we believe that they will respond to
us.
“But we also know that; one, this is an
experimental drug, some of the data required are
now being collected because it is now being
used on people.
“We are not completely sure yet of its efficacy;
we are not yet completely sure if the side effects
would outweigh its benefits, and then secondly,
since it is an experimental drug, it means it has
not been produced in commercial quantity.
“So obviously, given the demand all over the
world, may be, they are having challenges about
the supply.”
Chukwu commended the military for
establishing the first Defence Identification
Centre in Sub -Saharan Africa, which according
to him, is in consonance with best practices in
combat casualty identification.
He said the centre would be useful in the storage
of the DNA samples of serving military personnel,
identification of crash victims and victims of
terror attacks.
Also at the event attended by the Minister of
Defence, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, and all the service
chiefs and heads of security agencies in the
country, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief
Marshal Alex Badeh, urged military and security
personnel to utilise the centre by providing their
blood samples.
Badeh said the centre would make it possible for
all fallen military personnel to be identified and
given a proper burial.
It was gathered that the military leadership
decided to establish the centre after 46 soldiers
of the 234 Battalion of the Nigerian Army,
Monguno, burnt to death in an accident.
According to him, the 46 soldiers were buried
to the chagrin of their families who complained
that their corpses were not identified.
Don’t close borders against Nigerians
At another function where the Health Minister
met with representatives of embassies and
international agencies in Nigeria, Chukwu
pleaded that foreign borders should not be
closed against Nigerians.
He said it would be wrong for any country to do
so since Nigeria had not closed its own borders.
He said, “We are prepared to treat every infected
person . Representatives of the various foreign
countries in Nigeria should advise their home
countries against closing their borders against
Nigerians because everything is being done to
contain the spread of the disease.
“We will be destroying the whole world totally if
every country should close down their borders.
But if you think closing down your own borders
will help you, go ahead and do it.
“We have not closed down our land borders
because we are weighing all possibilities. The
ministry of health will not be the last to advise
the Federal Government to close the borders if
we are convinced that doing so is necessary.
“Unless we are sure that all our land borders are
fully secured, closing the border in Nigeria will be
counter-productive because we still have many
porous borders which foreigners would explore
without being screened.”
He commended the international community, the
World Bank, the ECOWAS and the private sector
for supporting Nigeria’s efforts at combating
the disease
Chukwu also said Nigeria would not allow
foreigners infected with the Ebola virus to
travel out for treatment.
He said that WHO had noted that about 1, 700
persons had been infected with the virus and
that more than 900 of them had died since the
outbreak of the disease.
The minister said, “This was the figure released
yesterday (Wednesday) and it could have been
more today.
“If the incubation period of the virus had shifted
a little bit, the Liberian- born American , Mr
Patrick Sawyer, who imported the disease would
have after participating in the ECOWAS summit in
Calabar, Cross River State, returned to the US
where it would have manifested.
“This means that currently, the whole world is in
danger. For Nigeria, it is a national emergency
but for the whole world, it is a global emergency.
Everyone, every nation and every individual is at
risk.
“Clearly, a victim is condemned to prison by the
disease but he or she is not condemned to
death. The victim is in prison because he is
quarantined when suspected to have the virus
and isolated when he has the disease. It is not
condemnation to death.
“So, having Ebola virus is not a death sentence.
People can survive it and an international
research is still ongoing to make sure that any
carrier of the virus survives.
“It is true that we are in possession of the
manifest of the passengers that flew in the same
aircraft with Sawyer from Lome to Lagos but the
problem is that the seats in the aircraft were free
so we have to go after all the 48 passengers.
“All those who landed with him in Lagos were
immediately placed under surveillance alongside
all the airport staff and hospital personnel who
had direct contact with them.
“At the moment, one or two of the passengers
are hiding . Some of the primary contacts,
against our advice, had even left Lagos and
travelled to other cities.
“We have put in place the infrared tarmac
detectors gadgets to screen outgoing and
incoming passengers at the Lagos and Abuja
airports. We are also screening in 49 land
borders, 13 airports, and 18 sea borders.
“Currently Nigeria has diagnosed seven Ebola
virus victims. The figure included the late
Sawyer. There are six Nigerians and one of them
unfortunately died on Tuesday. Others are under
investigation.”
The minister added that medical personnel were
the only people allowed to wear protective gloves
in the hospitals.
He called on non-medical personnel at the
borders to stop wearing protective gloves.
He said the Federal Government was ready to
work with the Saudi Arabia authorities on how to
ensure that pilgrims were well screened before
being allowed to participate in the Holy
pilgrimage.
Chukwu, who lamented the deteriorating state of
health workers who had contracted Ebola, urged
the international community to assist Nigeria in
combating the menace.
He also announced that “there will be
introduction of life insurance scheme for the
health workers that will be recruited so that it
would go a long way in helping the family of the
doctor when issue of Ebola arises.”
The minister added, “The issue of Ebola is
affecting our health workers but we are assuring
them that government is doing everything
possible to protect them; the health workers the
ministry is going to recruit will have life
insurance so that when anything happens, the
family of the doctor will not suffer the loss.”
ECOWAS closes Lagos office
The VicePresident of ECOWAS, Dr. Toga
McIntosh, said the sub regional organisation was
in support of all strategies being employed by
Nigeria to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.
McIntosh disclosed that the regional body had
closed down its Lagos office pending when
health officers would declare it fit for reopening.
He confirmed that ECOWAS invited Sawyer to its
annual retreat in Calabar alongside other
ECOWAS ambassadors, national officers, unit
heads, and heads of ECOWAS institutions.
He said, “Our protocol officers, including the
driver that went to meet Sawyer at the airport
are among those under surveillance and are
under careful observation. We are monitoring
them very closely.
“Also, we have suspended all our activities for a
while. In our Lagos office where we initially
hosted the late Sawyer, we are collaborating with
the Lagos State Government to fully fumigate the
entire premises because the vehicle which was
used to take him to the hospital is in the
compound.
“He had interacted with people used the toilets
and other facilities.
At the moment we have closed down our office
pending when the health officers will declare it fit
for reopening.
Also, the Officer in charge of the WHO in Nigeria,
Dr. Rex Mpazanje, said Ebola virus in Nigeria had
been contained at the primary contact level.
He commended Nigeria for declaring an epidemic
when the case was discovered.
However, the Liberian Ambassador to Liberia,
Prof. Al-Hassan Conteh, said the attention of the
embassy had been drawn to several cases of
harassment of Liberians in Lagos and other
places in Nigeria.
He said, “I think that as we combat this disease,
it is important to carry out a campaign that
association is not concession. The fact that the
index case came from Liberia, does not mean
that all Liberians in Nigeria are infected with the
Ebola virus.”
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God wil judge.

How tori con plenty like dis ontop say dem won apologise
And
How dis won solve the problem self