The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has traced 53 people who came into contact with an Ebola patient in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with each person in quarantine set to receive ₦100,000 weekly for feeding and other basic needs.
The NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this while briefing journalists on Sunday, explaining that the agency introduced the financial support after some contacts raised concerns about their inability to run their businesses while in quarantine.
According to Idris, the 53 primary contacts comprise 47 health workers from the hospital where the patient received treatment and six other individuals, including her husband, driver, chef and three health workers who attended to her in the emergency room.
The index case is a 42-year-old woman, identified as the wife of a Swiss Embassy staff member. She reportedly returned from Uganda through Addis Ababa on October 3 and developed fever, diarrhoea and body pains four days later.
“We have traced 53 Ebola contacts. We are providing N100,000 to each person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining,” Idris said.
He added that all identified contacts would be monitored for 21 days, while contact-tracing teams would work to identify and monitor any secondary contacts.
In a separate development, a suspected Ebola case in Rivers State has tested negative, according to the NCDC chief.
Idris said the patient, whose condition had earlier been reported to have deteriorated to multiple-organ failure, had also shown significant improvement.
