South African national with symptoms quarantined in Lagos OAU student tests negative
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Lagos State Government yesterday warned the federal government against the September 22 resumption date of primary and secondary schools across the country.
The warning came as the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, yesterday announced that a South African national who showed symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) had been quarantined in Lagos.
Both WHO and the Lagos government asked the federal government to review the resumption date for the public and private schools in the country until the scourge of the virus is properly dealt with.
The WHO Country Representative, Mr. Rui Van Gaz, urged the federal government to exercise caution during a courtesy visit to the state Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, at the State House in Alausa yesterday.
Gaz, who came alongside other officials of the world health body, said the federal government should ensure that the schools are fully prepared in terms of availability of water, soaps and sanitizers among others.
He added that the teachers “must be fully aware of what is needed to be done when they are faced with any suspected case of Ebola Virus in their schools. The students must be enlightened about the symptoms of the deadly virus.
“Even though the number of Ebola Virus cases has reduced, most of the contacts are out of the 21 days. We should avoid any form of complacency until the last case is over and we have completed the surveillance to ensure that no other potential case.
“We should not relent in the effort to tackling the dreaded virus. We need to learn from this experience by not only dealing with the disease but to strengthen the entire health system in the federation.”
Gaz said the entire leadership of the global health institution commended the state government for its outstanding efforts towards the containment of the Ebola virus.
He urged the state government to avoid being complacent due to the apparent drop in the number of the virus cases, noting that the war against it has not been won until the virus is entirely wiped out.
Also speaking, Fashola said the state government might review the resumption date, which he said, was set by the federal government without due consultation.
He explained that the state government “is in the process of ascertaining through scientific risk evaluation, whether it will accept the date announced by the federal government.”
He hinted that he stepped out of the state executive council meeting, which was discussing the date, to receive the WHO, noting that the issue of school resumption was under scrutiny.
The governor explained that if evaluation “shows that children will be at risk on resumption, the state schools will not open, even though the federal government had set September 22 for the same purpose.”
Meanwhile, Chukwu, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Dan Nwomeh, said efforts were ongoing to investigate the South African national.
He stated that “a South African national suspected of showing symptoms of Ebola Virus at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport was quarantined at the isolation ward in Lagos while her case is being investigated.”
The suspected Ebola Virus patient, a white South African woman, arrived the airport in Lagos from Morocco.
When she arrived, she was tested with infrared to check her temperature like any other passenger but her temperature was high, so she was immediately isolated.
The Port Health officials took the form she filled about her health status while inflight and learnt that she had worked in Guinea and Sierra Leone and the medics acted swiftly and took her away to the centre to confirm if she has the disease.
The suspicion that she might have the disease became strong when shortly after her isolation, she started vomiting; that sent fears to both passengers and workers at the arrival hall of the airport, including the medical personnel.
The state Head of Port Health, Dr Morenike Alex-Okoh, confirmed that the woman had been in Guinea and Sierra Leone since April and that she had manifested the symptoms of Ebola Virus at the airport.
“This person has been in Guinea and Sierra Leone since April ... she has symptoms of the virus,” Alex-Okoh said.
The testing process was likely to last a few days.
But the medics also emphasised that the woman was being treated as a suspected case, having not manifested the disease yet.
The minister also explained that the alleged rumour of a possible outbreak of Ebola at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, had been found out to be negative.
Chukwu also stated that “the suspected case of Ebola virus at OAU turned out negative after investigation.”
There was panic in the university during the week after a female student who feel ill confessed of having contact with the Port Harcourt doctor.
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