A corpse was brought from Liberia to the
state.
The Anambra Commissioner of Health, Josephat
Akabuike, announced on Thursday that a
hospital has been sealed off and its workers
and patients quarantined due to Ebola disease
scare.
Briefing journalists in Awka, Ms. Akabuike said
the measure followed information received by
the government that a man whose body was
brought back from Liberia at the weekend,
might have died of the killer disease. He said
that information available to the government
indicated that the body was brought back from
Liberia through Lagos and deposited in the
mortuary at Nkwelle-Ezenaka in Oyi Local
Government of the state.
“Part of the briefing is to tell you what we are
doing to make sure we don’t allow the deadly
virus to come into the state.
“What actually called for this is that we have a
report that a corpse was brought through
Lagos and the deceased was said to have been
taken from Liberia where of course you know
there are cases of the disease.
“The corpse was said to have been brought to
Nigeria and deposited somewhere in Nkwelle-
Ezunaka and the ministry was alerted and that
is why we are taking all these measures.”
The commissioner said that Governor Willie
Obiano had already directed the Police
Command in the state to cordon off the place
until the necessary tests were carried out.
He further said that Federal Government had
also sent medical experts from the Federal
Ministry of Health, Abuja, to Anambra to carry
out the test at the hospital premises.
Meanwhile, Ebola has been blamed for 672
deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone,
according to the World Health Organisation.
Sierra Leone has declared a state of emergency
and called in troops to quarantine epicentres
of Ebola, joining Liberia in imposing tough
controls to curb the worst ever outbreak of
the virus amid fears it could spread beyond
West Africa.
Meanwhile, a Liberian man was confirmed to
have died from the virus in Lagos last Friday.
In a measure of rising international concern,
Britain on Wednesday held a government
meeting on Ebola, which it said was a threat it
needed to respond to.
The outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever, for
which there is no known cure, began in the
forests of remote eastern Guinea in February,
but Sierra Leone now has the highest number
of cases.
(NAN)
