The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Health to step up surveillance at all the nation’s entry points including all land and airport borders in the country. This is to prevent the further spread of Ebola to the country, following the outbreak of the virus in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the council’s meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“Of great concern to the Federal Executive Council is the outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo. Over the last one month, DRC recorded 19 suspected cases of viral hemorrhagic fever and lost 16 of the cases.
“On Monday, blood samples from five patients in the DRC, particularly in a particular district in DRC, two of the five cases, Ebola was actually confirmed.
“FEC has now directed the Federal Ministry of help to step up emergency surveillance activities at all land and airport borders so that we can actually keep Nigerians safe,” he said.
Speaking further about the virus, Adewole said an emergency operation center will be set up and visitors to Nigeria, especially Congo, will be screened thoroughly.
“What we will do is to set up an emergency operation center which will be chaired by Dr Babasanya, who actually led our efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea during the outbreak in 2014.
“Not only that, we will be screening incoming passengers, particularly passengers from DRC and neighbouring countries. We will also ensure we step up all activities screening people coming in so that we will not be caught unawares,” he added.
The FEC also agreed that Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) will consider sending some team to DRC as part of building capacity for managing the outbreak.
“We want to assure Nigerians that the Federal Government is concerned about the outbreak and will do everything possible to keep the country safe,” he said.
According to health officials, 17 people have died in an area of northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo where an outbreak of Ebola has been confirmed.
In Nigeria, Ebola outbreak was experienced in 2014. This led to the deaths of many including Dr. Stella Adedavoh, a physician credited to have curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria.