Reps Caution Nigeria On Another Ebola Outbreak

Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously adopted a motion moved by one of them, Dachung Bagos, on the possibilities of another ebola virus outbreak.

Bagos, who urged the Federal Government to start taking preventive measures, noted that the Ebola virus has a high tendency to spread into the country again because other African countries have recorded fresh cases.

The motion according to the Punch Newspaper was titled ‘Motion of Urgent Public Importance on the Need for Federal Government to Activate Response against the Possible Detection of Ebola in Nigeria.’

The lawmaker, in his submission, stated that on September 20, 2022, the Ugandan health authorities,  declared an outbreak of ebola disease caused by the Sudan virus, following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende District, Central Uganda.

He further explained that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had expressed concerns that in the absence of licensed vaccines and therapeutics for prevention and treatment of the Sudan virus disease, the risk of potential spread is high.

According to him, the House is worried that the Ebola virus is giving a lot of people concern around the world, as it was the variant that gave a lot of infections and fatalities in some countries.

He said that the “House is concerned that Nigeria has reason to be warier at the moment as the deadly ebola virus can get into Nigeria through our borders or travelers coming into Nigeria for business or any reason and could become dominant if unchecked.”

The lawmaker advanced that investigations are ongoing to determine the scope of the outbreak and the possibility of spreading, and that the overall risk has been assessed as high at national level considering the confirmation that the Sudan virus doesn’t have an authorised vaccine.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Federal Ministry of Health to immediately activate strategies to be implemented in monitoring adherence to Ebola guidelines and ensure residents continue to comply with all advisories aimed at curtailing the likely development of the virus in Nigeria.

The lawmakers also mandated the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ensure intensive observation and check on travel protocols for inbound passengers from red flag countries and also set up a national response to control the likely emergence and spread of the ebola virus in order to spare Nigerians the brunt of the pandemic.