suspected Ebola patients that may have sneaked into the State from the
neighbouring Rivers State.
Commissioner for Health, Mr. Okechukwu Ogah, who stated this in an
exclusive interview with PUNCH Correspondent in Umuahia, said he would
liaise with his Rivers State counterpart to get the names of people
suspected to have had contacts with the late Dr. Iyke Enemuo and later
fled the state .
He said when obtained, such names would be made public so that members
of the public would help government in tracking them down to avoid
spreading the virus to residents of the state.
Ogah however cautioned against politicising the pandemic following
some media reports that Chinyere, the sister of the late Enemuo fled
to Abia after the death of her brother before she was tracked down and
bundled back to PortHarcourt where she is currently quarantined.
He said he never saw Chinyere in Abia but noted that government was
not taking chances as it had since stepped up public awareness and
sensitization on how to contain the Ebola virus.
The Commissioner appealed to church leaders, traditional rulers,
healing homes, landlords, tenants, and other members of the public to
volunteer information about any one suspected to have sneaked into
Abia from Ebola infested states.
He said: "We will work with neighbouring states to track down the 50
people that were said to have fled from Rivers State and put them on
surveillance. We need to work together to rid Nigeria of Ebola; and if
there is anybody hiding in Abia we will ask for their names and
announce them on air for the public to help us track them."
Ogah who expressed joy that so far no known case of Ebola had been
established in Abia said that apart from intensive awareness campaign
against the pandemic, government had fortified all two isolation
centres set up to handle likely patients in the eventuality of its out
break in the state.
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