The Lagos State Government on Tuesday debunked stories of a fresh outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state currently being circulated in the social media and private blogs.
The state government, therefore, asked the residents of the state to disregard the speculation that the virus was reported in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and peacefully go about their legitimate businesses while taking the necessary preventive measures.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris debunked the report of fresh Ebola case at a news conference he addressed alongside his information counterpart, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba and that of Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed among others.
At the conference, the health commissioner noted that there was rumour in the social media and private blogs on the return of EVD to Nigeria, especially Lagos, thereby killing three and infecting 12 other persons.
He said findings revealed that the EVD rumour was generated from two different websites, explaining that the government swung into action to verify the source, quality and viability of the rumour, its author as well as embarked on social media campaign to debunk the news on its Facebook site.
He identified the websites to be: ww.mercyjblog.com/2015/04/breaking-iebola-return-to-nigeriaiafter.html and http://www.naijabadoo.com, each of which he said, reported fresh cases of the virus in the state.
Idris added that the second rumour concerning two Chinese visitors from Sierra Leone was posted on twitter @iChexo on April 12, claiming that the two Chinese died of EVD at the LUTH same day.
The commissioner added that investigation carried out at LUTH confirmed that “to be completely untrue. We believe that the author of these materials simply wanted to generate traffic to their websites which would appear successfully achieved.
“We wish to assure you that health workers have continued to maintain a high index of suspicion of Ebola Virus Disease and other viral haemorrhagic fevers. The operations and surveillance activities of the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EEOC) have continued despite the containment of the EVD and the declaration of Nigeria as Ebola-free by WHO in 2014.”
He stated that activities of the EEOC were still ongoing, such as screening of passengers at the point of entry, enhanced surveillance for EVD in all councils in the state, social mobilisation and communication activities at the community and council levels, training on enhanced EVD surveillance for disease surveillance and notification officers, ward local persons and community informants, among others.
He said those at the highest risk “are health workers, families and friends of an infected persons in the course of feeding, holding and caring for them. Members of the public are hereby enjoined to disregard the EVD rumour and peacefully go about their lawful business while taking preventive measures by observing good environmental and personal hygiene, especially regular hand washing and proper waste disposal.
“Ensure thorough washing of fruits and other edible items before eating. Report any suspected case of Ebola or any known travellers from Ebola affected countries with history of persistent fever by calling the help line: 080 EBOLA HELP (080032d24357),” the commissioner explained. – Thisday.
