The Federal Government will no longer allow the remains of dead
Nigerians, especially from countries battling Ebola virus, from being
brought into the country for burial.
The Federal Government is also probing the corpse of a Nigerian that
was brought into the country from Liberia last month to ascertain
whether the deceased died of Ebola or not.
The Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Professor
Abdulsalami Nasidi, said this on Friday in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
Nasidi said, "The Federal Government has issued a directive that no
dead body should be brought into the country, especially from
neighbouring infected countries in view of the rampaging Ebola
outbreak in West Africa.
"The order will be communicated to the affected countries through
diplomatic channels."
On the Nigerian that was brought into the country, Nasidi said the
remains was brought into the country on 21 July, 2014 from Liberia and
conveyed from Lagos to Anambra State and deposited in a private
mortuary.
He said, "A team of experts, including those from the World Health
Organisation, have been despatched to Anambra State to investigate
whether the deceased died of Ebola.
"All the handler of the corpse brought into the country from Liberia
will be registered and tracked.
"Those who accompanied the corpse to Anambra and the mortuary handlers
are in quarantine in Anambra State. Our team in Anambra State will
give us the statistics of those who came in contact with the corpse
tomorrow (Saturday).
"If the corpse in Anambra State tested positive, we have been given
two options by the World Health Organisation. We can either cremate or
bury it. For corpses that would be buried, they will be placed in a
bag, disinfected, while the grave must be two meters deep."
Nasidi added that so far, 70 contacts had been established to have
come in contact with Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who died of
Ebola in Lagos recently, saying that the contacts were being monitored
to see if they would develop Ebola-like symptom.
He disclosed that two of the contacts that were brought down with
fever had been tested and found negative to Ebola infection.
"But that does not mean that we will stop. We will continue to place
them under observation until we are satisfied that they are free. They
were part of the 70 established contacts. First, it was 59, it
increased to 69 and yesterday (Thursday), we had another. And this
increased the number to 70."
Nasidi said there was no specific cure for Ebola virus.
"We treat the symptoms. If we say that there is no cure, the patients
will not come to the hospital. There is no specific drug for Ebola
virus. But we can use other drugs to save an infected person. On early
intervention, three out four cases survive but if they come late, one
out of four survive," he said.
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said the
government had stepped up measures to screen incoming passengers to
Nigeria to identify any traveller with symptoms in airports, seaports
and border crossing.
He added, "Nigerians must remain vigilant and strengthen surveillance
in order to identify potential cases of EVD so that care can be given
both patients and their communities and protect the population."
"An Ebola reporting system has been activated in order o facilitate
early identification of suspected Ebola cases."
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