Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Monday announced a new case of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease in Lagos State, saying the new case had increased the number of cases to 10 since the disease was imported into the country by Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American some weeks ago.
The new case is a just-married nurse who was said to have had a primary contact with the late Sawyer when he was admitted at First Consultant Private Hospital, Obalende, Lagos.
Chukwu said the woman’s husband is one of the 177 people currently placed under surveillance.
Out of the 10 cases currently in the country, two have died while eight are alive and undergoing treatment.
“The 10th case actually was one of the nurses who also had primary contact with the index case. When he (Sawyer) got ill, we then brought her into isolation,” Chukwu said in a news conference in Abuja.
“We just tested her over the weekend. So, that’s what made it 10. So, between Friday and today we had one additional case. That brings it to 10 and the 10 includes the index case.”
Chukwu said the nurse was currently undergoing treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday there were 13 probable and suspect cases of Ebola, including two deaths, in Nigeria. But the Minister did not say anything about the discrepancy in the figures.
