Ebola: FG bars corpses of Nigerians from abroad.

The Federal Government will no longer allow the remains of
dead Nigerians, especially from countries battling Ebola
virus, from being brought into the country for burial.
The Federal Government is also probing the corpse of a
Nigerian that was brought into the country from Liberia last
month to ascertain whether the deceased died of Ebola or
not.
The Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control,
Professor Abdulsalami Nasidi, said this on Friday in Alausa,
Ikeja, Lagos.
Nasidi said, “The Federal Government has issued a directive
that no dead body should be brought into the country,
especially from neighbouring infected countries in view of
the rampaging Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
“The order will be communicated to the affected countries
through diplomatic channels.”
On the Nigerian that was brought into the country, Nasidi
said the remains was brought into the country on 21 July,
2014 from Liberia and conveyed from Lagos to Anambra
State and deposited in a private mortuary.
He said, “A team of experts, including those from the World
Health Organisation, have been despatched to Anambra
State to investigate whether the deceased died of Ebola.
“All the handler of the corpse brought into the country from
Liberia will be registered and tracked.
“Those who accompanied the corpse to Anambra and the
mortuary handlers are in quarantine in Anambra State. Our
team in Anambra State will give us the statistics of those
who came in contact with the corpse tomorrow (Saturday).
“If the corpse in Anambra State tested positive, we have
been given two options by the World Health Organisation.
We can either cremate or bury it. For corpses that would be
buried, they will be placed in a bag, disinfected, while the
grave must be two meters deep.”
Nasidi added that so far, 70 contacts had been established
to have come in contact with Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the
Liberian who died of Ebola in Lagos recently, saying that the
contacts were being monitored to see if they would develop
Ebola-like symptom.
He disclosed that two of the contacts that were brought
down with fever had been tested and found negative to
Ebola infection.
“But that does not mean that we will stop. We will continue
to place them under observation until we are satisfied that
they are free. They were part of the 70 established
contacts. First, it was 59, it increased to 69 and yesterday
(Thursday), we had another. And this increased the number
to 70.”
Nasidi said there was no specific cure for Ebola virus.
“We treat the symptoms. If we say that there is no cure, the
patients will not come to the hospital. There is no specific
drug for Ebola virus. But we can use other drugs to save an
infected person. On early intervention, three out four cases
survive but if they come late, one out of four survive,” he
said.
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said
the government had stepped up measures to screen
incoming passengers to Nigeria to identify any traveller
with symptoms in airports, seaports and border crossing.
He added, “Nigerians must remain vigilant and strengthen
surveillance in order to identify potential cases of EVD so
that care can be given both patients and their communities
and protect the population.”
“An Ebola reporting system has been activated in order to
facilitate early identification of suspected Ebola cases.”