By Doris Obinna
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has warned against reports declaring Nigeria Ebola-free, insisting that although the country currently has no confirmed case following the evacuation of its only confirmed patient, contacts of the infected traveller remain under surveillance.
The Director General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, said the reports were inaccurate and misleading, stressing that the absence of a confirmed case does not mean the country’s surveillance and response efforts should be relaxed.
Speaking at a virtual capacity-building workshop for journalists on effective Ebola reporting on Tuesday, Idris said the infected woman, who returned to Abuja from Uganda, was evacuated to Switzerland with her husband on 26 October at the request and expense of her government.
He said she had improved clinically and was stable before leaving Nigeria.
Idris disclosed that contacts of the patient were being monitored daily, with health authorities working to identify and track secondary contacts to establish whether there had been any community transmission.
He warned that misinformation could undermine public health efforts, urging journalists to verify reports through official channels before publication and promptly correct false claims with the same prominence given to the original reports.
“Accountability is not misinformation,” he said, acknowledging that questions about Nigeria’s preparedness, funding and contact-tracing efforts...
By Doris Obinna The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has warned against reports declaring Nigeria Ebola-free, insisting that although the country currently has no confirmed...