By Ambrose Amos
The index patient diagnosed with Ebola virus in Nigeria has been evacuated from the country early this morning through an air ambulance at the private jet wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, ARISE News sources informed us.
There was a tipp off by a news source that the patient who is a woman and wife of a Swiss diplomat in Nigeria would be flown out of Nigeria by 6am this morning through a medivac plane which was already at the airport waiting to evacuate her.
The crew deployed to the General Aviation Terminal later obtained pictures of the arrival of a convoy of vehicular ambulance from Abuja city centre with diplomatic vehicles in the entourage. The three vehicle convoy had an international Agency vehicle entering the Private Jet section of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport.
Airport officials cordoned off the private wing of the airport but it was eventually obtained that a medivac plane with crews eventually evacuating the sick passenger suspected to be the Ebola index case due to the special nature of the medical evacuation.
The Federal Government will make the announcement of the medical evacuation only after the plane has taken off and exited the Nigerian airspace.
NCDC Approves ₦100,000 Weekly Payment For People Isolated Over Ebola Outbreak
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has approved an emergency payment of ₦100,000 per person weekly to support people isolated or quarantined over the Ebola outbreak in the Federal Capital Territory.
NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this during a press briefing on Sunday, explaining that the support became necessary after some contacts complained about the cost of feeding, accommodation and maintaining their families while under monitoring.
“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” Idris said.
He added that the agency was providing ₦100,000 per person weekly to cover their basic needs during isolation.
“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” he said.
Idris stressed that the responsibility should not rest solely on the FCT, urging other states to prepare the necessary funding and logistics for similar emergencies.
“This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case,” he added.
Nigeria had recorded one confirmed Ebola case at the time of the briefing, involving a woman who travelled from Uganda to Abuja. The case was confirmed on October 20, with 53 primary contacts identified for monitoring.
The NCDC said contact tracing and health surveillance were ongoing, with contacts monitored throughout the 21-day incubation period following their last possible exposure.
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