One of the Nigerian nurses who attended to Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian man who died of Ebola disease in Lagos two weeks ago has died in Lagos. Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu confirmed the death of the nurse today in Abuja, saying it occured on Tuesday. Mr. Sawyer died in Lagos shortly after he arrived on a flight from Liberia with symptoms of Ebola disease. Eight other Nigerians on the flight have been confirmed to have Ebola-like symptms according to health authorities in Lagos.
Chuwwu said the death of a nurse, who worked at First Mainland Hospital, Obalende, brings the number of Ebola deaths to two, while there are five more confirmed cases.
“Yesterday, 5th August, 2014, the first known Nigerian to die of the EVD was recorded, and this was one of the nurses that attended to the Liberian,” he told newsmen in Abuja, adding that the five other cases are currently being treated at the isolation ward in Lagos.
He also clarified that all Ebola cases in Nigeria are those of people who had primary contact with Sawyer.
He also said that a 24-hour emergency operations centre to be headed by Dr. Faisal Shuaibu, would be open to the public from Thursday, 7th August 2014.
“We are making arrangements to procure isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all states of the federation and the federal capital territory,” he added.
“We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families while government continues to work hard to ensure the containment of the outbreak.”
