Ebola: Delta releases three after they tested negative to Ebola

   Two indigenes and a Sierra Leonean have been released by the Delta State government after they tested negative to the deadly Ebola Virus.

It was gathered that following
information that the trio were traveling to the state from Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Technical sub-committee of the Delta State Inter-Ministerial Ebola Preparedness and Response Committee, immediately swung into action and got them detained.

The trio were picked from the Lagos border before placing them on
surveillance for signs and symptoms of the deadly disease.

Dr Michael Omatsola, Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Health, told journalists in Asaba that the State Rapid Response Team (SRRT) got wind that the three persons were heading to Delta and activated mechanisms to ensure that they were certified Ebola free.

However, the three persons were
allowed to go about their normal
businesses when they failed to exhibit any signs and symptoms of the Ebola Virus Disease after they were observed for the stipulated 21 days.

Omatsola spoke during a Training of
Trainers (TOT) workshop on Ebola Virus Disease, organized by the sub-
committee for doctors, nurses,
pharmacists, laboratory scientists,
disease surveillance officers and
scientific officers in the state.

At the event which held in Delta North Senatorial district, he revealed that so far, seven other persons suspected to have the EVD have had their blood samples screened by the sub-committee at the Virology laboratories in Lagos and Port-Harcourt, disclosing that they
all returned negative.

“The State Rapid Response Team
responded swiftly to every call of
suspected Ebola cases to nip in the bud any likely confirmed case from
spreading to other persons in the
State’’, he added.

He urged health personnel to desist
from turning away persons that present with symptoms similar to the EVD, urging them to endeavour to observe every universal safety precautions when handling suspected patients.

He advised that patients could easily die of diarrhea if left unattended, stressing that most cases of vomiting and stooling of blood were not necessarily Ebola.