59 persons came in contact with Ebola victim -LASG

He Lagos State Government on Monday said 59 people in the state came in contact with the 40-year-old Liberian who died of Ebola virus in Lagos.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who made this known in   Ikeja, explained that the number consisted of 44 health care workers   and 15 others at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The commissioner said the government had not been able to establish the number of contacts the Liberian had on the plane that flew him into Nigeria because the management of Asky Airline   had not provided it with the manifest.

He however said that out of the 55 known contacts, 20 had been screened and released.

Idris said, “So far,   59 contacts have been registered, consisting 44 hospital contacts (38 health care workers and six laboratory staff) and 15 airport contacts. The 15 airport contacts comprise three ECOWAS staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol Officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Monrovia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers.

“As of the time of this report, 20 contacts had been physically screened of which 50 per cent had type one contact and 50 per cent had had type two contact.

“Airline manifest has not been provided by the airline and therefore the precise number of passenger contacts has yet to be ascertained, especially as two flights were involved (Monrovia-Lome and Lome-Lagos). There was no report of medical incident and the General Declaration report of the flight.”

The commissioner, who advised Nigerians not to panic, said nobody in the country had been infected with the virus.

He added that the state and the federal governments were working to ensure that the virus did not infect anybody in the country.

Idris said, “We can categorically state that as of today, we have only one case of imported Ebola and death. No Nigerian is infected, but all contacts are being actively followed.

“We call on all Nigerians to be calm and not panic. We assure them that both the state and the Federal Government are up in arms to ensure that the virus did not escape and that no Nigeria is infected with this virus.”