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.
MORE AFTER THE CUT...........................
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 to facilitate early identification of suspected Ebola cases.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/ebola-fg-bars-corpses-of-nigerians-from-abroad/
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