Contrary to the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu’s claim on Tuesday that Ebola has been contained in Nigeria, we are now getting reports that the disease has spread to Rivers State, where a doctor has already died from it.
According to Premium Times, A highly placed official of the Rivers state Government has confirmed to that a suspected case of Ebola has been detected in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the development with journalists, simply said, “Yes, there was a case of Ebola death. We are tracking everybody.”
According to Sahara Reporters, the unnamed doctor secretly treated a diplomat who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus to Nigeria on the 20th July.
The doctor reportedly died on Friday, his wife had also taken ill and is now in quarantine. Seventy people suspected to have come in contact with the case have been tracked down and placed in isolation.
In a strange twist the unnamed diplomat treated by the doctor is still alive, the report said. The report also says the diplomat is believed to be one of the ECOWAS officials who met Mr. Sawyer on his arrival in Lagos. He then flew to Port Harcourt where he took ill and was treated at an unnamed hotel.
The doctor’s hospital, Good Heart Hospital, as well as the hotel where he treated the diplomat, have both been shut down.
On Tuesday the Minister of Health at a press briefing said, “Ebola has been curtailed,” and that “All 129 people under surveillance have completed the 21-day observation period and only a person is symptomatic and is being observed.”