Fear, panic and confusion continued to reign in Enugu yesterday following confirmation by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Wednesday that 21 persons were feared to have had contact with a nurse, who visited Enugu recently and who partook in the treatment of the late Patrick Sawyer, are being kept under surveillance somewhere in the state.
The report had brought confusion among Enugu residents most of whom had, out of panic, withdrawn their children from holiday lessons just as handshakes were gradually becoming a taboo.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. George Eze, at a press conference yesterday announced that the state government had set up four isolation centres in Ikem, Oji-river, Nsukka and Colliery district hospitals.
The commissioner confirmed that the primary contact that visited Enugu was quickly identified and put in isolation while the husband was being quarantined.
In an earlier press chat, the Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Enugu chapter, Dr. George Ugwu, expressed concerns about the development disclosing that doctors in the state and all the hospitals in Enugu were also in a state of relative confusion as to where to send suspected cases of Ebola.
“Even before the Federal Government accepted that there was a primary contact in Enugu, we got wind of the information that one of the persons, who treated the primary contact in Lagos found her way to Enugu. We made contacts and found out that it was true.
“The government responded and took away the woman and her immediate contacts; but the woman stayed for some days and we even have it on good source that she even attended a wedding ceremony but we are not too sure at what point.
“We are concerned because Enugu has an international airport coupled with this visit of a primary contact.
“We are requesting that designated place be put in place and appropriate personal protective equipment provided for health workers. Part of our concern is also the issue of ensuring that the health workers who are at the frontline of this outbreak are protected.
“We don’t even know as we speak, where to source the personal protective equipment; who pays; where is it? We are even ready to buy; they say it is only World Health Organisation (WHO) that supplies it; we made enquiries, we have tried to push in the ministry. Doctors in Enugu are worried, concerned and confused,” Ugwu stated.

… None in Enugu, all cases confined to Lagos –FG 
 By AZOMA CHIKWEMinister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has clarified that there is no case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Enugu, saying all cases are confined to Lagos. This was just as the death toll rose to four yesterday,  with the death of a 25-year-old nurse, who was among those that attended to the late Patrick Sawyer.
The minister also corrected an error in statistics he made earlier during a press briefing yesterday. According to him, Nigeria had recorded 10 confirmed cases of EVD, saying out of these, three had died and eight were currently under treatment.
“It is important to note that the number of confirmed cases remains ten as at today and not eleven as earlier announced yesterday morning. We regret the error, which arose from double counting in the communication of information from the operational centres to the Federal Ministry of Health.
“The total number of persons under surveillance in Lagos is now 169. These are all secondary contacts as all the primary contacts have completed the 21-day incubation period and have been delisted to resume their normal lives,” he said.
The minister said Enugu State had six persons under surveillance, as 15 persons, after complete evaluation, were found not to have had contact with the nurse, a primary contact of the index case, who became symptomatic and tested positive and was one of the 10 confirmed cases. “The nurse, who had been placed under surveillance in Lagos disobeyed the Incidence Management Committee and travelled to Enugu. At the time she made the trip, she was yet to show any symptom and did not infect anyone on her way, as transmission of the disease is only possible when a carrier of the virus becomes ill.
“However, she has since been brought back to Lagos.”
Before the return journey, she had become symptomatic and had to be conveyed to Lagos with her spouse in special ambulances. The husband is neither symptomatic nor positive for Ebola virus disease but has been quarantined given the intimate contact with his wife while in Enugu.
“It is, therefore, important to emphasise that there is no Ebola virus disease in Enugu. All cases are still confined to Lagos State. Also, reports of the disease in Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Anambra states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja have all been investigated and none of them was found to be Ebola virus positive,” Chukwu said.

Ebola: Panic in Enugu over alleged 21 cases