Nigeria declares national emergency over Ebola
August 09, 2014  03:51
Nigeria's president has declared the containment of the Ebola virus in Africa's most populous nation a national emergency, his office has said in a statement, after the health ministry announced two more confirmed cases.

The relevant agencies must ensure that all possible steps are taken "to effectively contain the threat of the Ebola virus in line with international protocols and best practices," President Goodluck Jonathan said in the statement released by his office yesterday. 

Nigeria's Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said today the total confirmed cases have risen to 9, including a nurse and
the Liberian-American man who died in Lagos. All the confirmed cases had primary contact with Patrick Sawyer, mostly at the
hospital before he died, the ministry said. 

Sawyer flew into Lagos last month, collapsed at the airport and died of the disease at a hospital in Lagos five days later.
Jonathan also approved the release of 1.9 billion naira (USD 11.7 million) to contain the disease through an intervention plan. The plan includes establishing additional isolation centers, screening at borders and deploying more personnel, his spokesman said.

He also asked schools to consider extending the current school holiday until there is a national reassessment of the level of threat Ebola poses in Nigeria.
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