Ebola In Port Harcourt As Rivers State Official Confirms Suspected Case Of Ebola Death
Inspite of the assertion by Minister of Health that Nigeria now has only case of Ebola left; the country may be in for another round of Ebola crisis, this time is in Garden City.
According to a report by news website, Premium Times, there has been a confirmation of Ebola Virus disease in Port Harcourt the Rivers State Capital.
A highly placed official of the Rivers state Government has confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that a suspected case of the Ebola Virus Disease has been detected in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.
The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the development with journalists, simply said, “Yes, there was a case of Ebola death. We are tracking everybody.”
Seventy people suspected to have had contact with the case have been tracked and quarantined, the official said.
The official spoke to this newspaper following reports that a doctor in the Rivers state capital had died from what appeared to be Ebola.
The Rivers state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, could not be reached for comments last night as she was said to be outside the country.
The unnamed doctor, according to news website, Sahara Reporters, secretly treated a diplomat who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus to Nigeria.
The doctor reportedly died on Friday, while his wife had also taken ill and now quarantined in Port Harcourt.
The report added:
Interestingly, the diplomat the doctor treated is still alive.
The diplomat, who was part of the team who met with Patrick Sawyer in Lagos, flew to Port Harcourt, Rivers State for treatment, evading Nigerian federal government surveillance for the disease. The late doctor then took him to a hotel for treatment.
As a result of this, 70 people have been quarantined. The doctor’s hospital, Good Heart Hospital in Rivers State, has been shut down. The unnamed hotel, where the secret treatment took place, has also been shut down.
The Minister of Health and the Rivers State government are expected to make a statement on the incident tomorrow (today).
