Nigeria began moves to douse panic and raise alert levels on Ebola virus disease, after a 17-year-old Liberian boy died from the virus just seven weeks after the country was declared free of the virus.
“The resurgence puts fear in all of us,” health permanent secretary Linus Awute told Daily Trust in an interview assessing Nigeria’s preparedness in face of a resurgence in Liberia.
“But what do we do with that kind of fear? It is to remain alert, vigilant, observing personal and environmental hygiene, while technically we continue to maintain our response mechanism.”
Coordinator of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Dr Abdulsalami Nasidi said in a statement that the outbreak in Liberia “confirms the Ebola virus is still circulating in that country and transmission from person to person is still possible.”
The federal health ministry would reactivate response mechanism and raise alert level and urged state governments to do the same, it said in the first official response since the outbreak was confirmed in Liberia.