Ebola: 59 placed on close surveillance

Lagos State Government has disclosed that at least 59 people that had contact with the late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian citizen that died of Ebola virus Lagos last week have been placed on close surveillance. The state Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this on Monday at a press briefing held in conjunction with Federal Ministry of Health officials at the Staff Clinic in Alausa. Idris, who said the measure was geared towards preventing the spread of the virus, assured residents that there was no cause for alarm. He said, “So far a total of 59 contacts have been registered consisting 44 hospital contacts, 38 healthcare workers and six laboratory staff. Others are 15 airport contacts comprising three Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Liberia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers. “As of the time of this report, 20 contacts had been physically screened of which 50 percent type one contact and 50 percent had type two contacts.” The commissioner lamented that the manifest of the Asky Airline Flight No KP50 that brought the victim into the country has not been provided by the airline at the time of this report, saying the precise number of passenger contacts is yet to be ascertained. He pointed out that two flights were involved (Monrovia-Lome and Lome-Lagos), noting that there was no report of medical incident filed.