FG Orders Security Agencies to Reject Corpses from Countries Afflicted with Ebola Virus Disease

August 1, 2014 – The Federal Government has ordered security agencies at Nigeria’s border post to henceforth reject corpses from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three West African nations ravaged by the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.

Director General Centre for Disease Control, Professor Abdusalami Nacidi who was speaking in Lagos said the contentious corpse that was flown from Liberia into Lagos enroute Anambra State has been kept in a private mortuary adding that a team of experts have already been dispatched to Anambra where the corpse is being kept to investigate circumstances surrounding death of the deceased.

He said the affected corpse arrived Nigeria via Liberia on the 21st of July adding that pursuant the Federal Government directive, another corpse that was on its way to Lagos from one of the affected countries was rejected.

He said that a meeting was held with Health ministers from Arab nations earlier in the day to also implement the directive to curtail further spread of the disease.

He advised members of the public to disregard allegations of cure to the disease in some quarters, noting that Ebola is a killer disease that wipes out anybody when it comes into homes.

Also speaking at the briefing, Commissioner for Health, Lagos State Dr. Jide Idris called on owners of private mortuaries to desist from handling dead bodies without death certificate due to the nature of Ebola.

He said that all the 70 persons that had contact with the dead Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, a naturalized American have been screened, adding that result for the two that had fever were negative but that government will continue to monitor the rest in the next 21 days.

He said it is not true that another Ebola patient has died in Lagos.