The Director-general, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Jide Odris,  has said that seven additional people linked to the Ebola virus patient in Abuja have been isolated.

Peoples Gazette last week reported that NCDC added the patient’s two domestic staff to the 44 isolated people. 

The additional seven people have raised the total number of isolated people to 53.

“As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts,” the NCDC boss said at a press briefing on Sunday. 

He explained that the newly traced contacts were largely the healthcare workers who first attended to the patient in Julius Berger Clinic before she went to Nizamiye Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Ebola.  

“Of the nine additional contacts, three are household members of the patient, her driver, chef, and husband. Three others attended to her at Julius Berger Clinic before she got to the other facility, while the remaining three were members of the team who went to collect samples,” Mr Idris stated.

He said none of the isolated persons have, so far, tested positive to the virus.

Mr Idris also clarified that a suspected case in Rivers State proved to be a false alarm after the patient tested negative to the virus.

A 42-year-old female patient who was born in Uganda and married to a Swiss diplomat tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease on October 20.

She had departed Uganda for Nigeria on October 3. 

Nigeria’s health minister Ali Pate said genomic analysis indicates that the virus identified in Nigeria is highly similar to the case reported in Kenya.

He implied that there was a high possibility that the patient in Nigeria crossed paths with a Kenyan man at the airport in Uganda. The Kenyan man died days after arriving in Nairobi. 

Uganda’s Ministry of Health denied exporting the virus to Nigeria, reaffirming its Ebola-free status as declared by the World Health Organisation in August.