Following the confirmation of a case of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus in the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday, the Lagos State Government said it was ready to tackle it.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Gboyega Akosile, told the Peoples Gazette on Wednesday, that everything had been put in place against it.

Mr Akosile also stated that the commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi, was in constant communication with the federal government and other relevant heath agencies ahead of any possible detection and subsequent containment of the disease in the state.

Mr Akosile said, “Lagos State is very much alert. The commissioner for health has been in partnership with the Federal Government and all the necessary things are in top shape for eventualities of this virus.

“The Lagos State Government has been in contact, via the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, not today, not yesterday. They are in regular contact and working together. The virus will be dealt with in line with the protocols put in place.

“We’re also working with protocols and major departments in Lagos as a point of first contact to prevent the virus in the state. If peradventure, the are cases in Lagos, there are protocols already in place.” 

Mr Akosile expressed confidence that the successful tackling of the Ebola virus in 2014 and the Coronavirus in 2020 gave the Sanwo-Olu government the institutional knowledge and experience to be fully prepared for it.

Asked if isolation centres were already available across the state ahead of a possible spread of the disease, Mr Akosile stated isolation centres were available in some parts of the state.

He assured that if the virus was eventually detected in the state, more isolation centres would immediately be made public.

“Details will be revealed if we have any report. Definitely, I know that we have some standby places in some of our medical facilities like in Gbagada, Ikeja, some other places, are prepared for any eventual case of the virus,” he assured.

The state government’s statement came a day after the minister of health, Muhammad Pate, on Tuesday, confirmed one case of the disease in Abuja, following laboratory confirmation.

The patient, a woman who arrived Nigeria from Uganda, is currently in isolation and receiving medical care.

Mr Pate said, “A woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she received treatment for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed.”

Mr Pate also stated that surveillance had been intensified and contact tracing of 44 identified by public health teams, working to identify and monitor healthcare workers, patients, caregivers, travel contacts, and others who might have been exposed to the patient, to prevent further transmission.