The Health Minister of Nigeria reports that his country is completely free of active Ebola cases and have today released the final victim contacts from surveillance.
In a telephone interview last night where he was preparing for a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu, MD, said, “Presently, there is no single case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria – none.”
Dr. Chukwu provided further details, saying, “No cases are under treatment, no suspected cases. There are no contacts in Lagos that are still under surveillance, having completed a minimum of 21 days of observation.”
In the process of tracing contacts of individuals infected with Ebola, anyone showing no symptoms after three weeks of last known contact with a victim is considered free of any potential for the disease.
Rivers State, whose capital city is Port Harcourt, had been home to over 400 contacts under medical surveillance. As of last night, only 25 contacts remained.
“None of them are showing any symptoms. 21 days of observation is over and the plan is to get them discharged from surveillance
“Nigeria will be as clean as any other country as far as Ebola virus disease is concerned.”
