…Health minister urges Nigerians not to panic, says response coordination in place
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — The Federal Government has said it is collaborating with Uganda to contain the risk of an Ebola outbreak, assuring Nigerians that public health authorities are coordinating response measures.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this on Wednesday while fielding questions from journalists after a meeting at the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Pate was asked to react to reports that Ugandan authorities had said there was no Ebola case in their country, despite reports that a Nigerian woman had contracted the virus in Uganda.
He said Nigeria was working with the East African country while taking steps to contain the reported case and prevent further transmission.
“All I can tell you is that we are collaborating with our sister African nation of Uganda. What is important is that we have found this one case. We are doing contact tracing, and we are putting containment measures to ensure that it doesn’t go into our population,” the minister said.
Pate said Nigeria had competent public health institutions capable of responding to the situation, citing the country’s experience managing the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
“We have done it in 2014, and we have good public health institutions,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to remain vigilant but avoid panic, advising the public to rely on information from trusted public health authorities rather than circulate unverified reports.
“Nigerians should be reassured. We must be vigilant, but not panic, and people should respect public health information from trusted sources, and not spread misinformation and false rumours,” he said.
The minister assured Nigerians that the government would continue to provide updates as more information became available.
“We would be truthful to Nigerians with the information that we receive on a daily basis. I will be receiving a report. NCDC has an incident management system,” he added.
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