|
 "Nigeria is now free of Ebola," WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told
a news conference in the capital Abuja, prompting a round of
applause from other officials.
"This is a spectacular success story ... It shows that Ebola can be
contained but we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the
war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola."
The first case in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was
imported from Liberia, when a Liberian-American diplomat called
Patrick Sawyer collapsed at the main international airport in Lagos
on July 20.
Because the country was ill prepared and had no screening procedures
in place, Sawyer was able to infect several people, including
several health workers in the hospital where he was taken, which did
not have proper protection equipment.
Ebola has killed 4,546 people across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra
Leone, the three worst-affected countries.
Nigeria had 20 cases in total, of which eight died.
[to top of second column] |
The announcement that Africa's biggest economy has, for now at
least, stamped out the deadly hemorrhagic fever, follows a similar
declaration in much smaller Senegal, where one case was imported
from Guinea.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Bate
Felix and Philippa Fletcher)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
