Schools will now resume this month – FG

 

Primary and secondary schools across the country are now to resume from the current holiday in the middle of September instead of October 13 earlier decreed by the Federal Government in the wake of the outbreak of the killer Ebola virus disease (Federal Government announced the new development in Abuja on Wednesday following improvement in the management and control of the disease.
According to Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which met at the State House opted to review the order on resumption date based on advice from health experts that the disease has been substantially contained.
He said only two patients currently being treated in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

President Jonathan had since the outbreak of the disease in Nigeria made an update on it a mandatory feature of the FEC meeting, Chukwu noted.

He stressed that it has been adjudged safe for schools to resume in the next few days following positive developments in containing the spread of the disease in Nigeria. He said the exact date of resumption would be decided and announced by the Federal Ministry of Education after its meeting with state Commissioners of Education.

According to the minister, only 18 cases of the Ebola disease have been confirmed in the country so far: 14 in Lagos and four in Port Harcourt, out of which seven patients have died while eight have been successfully managed and discharged from isolation wards in Lagos. The fourth patient in Port Harcourt is the sister of the late doctor there who had secretly treated a quarantine escapee from Lagos, while the patient in Lagos is the wife of the same doctor.

The number of secondary contacts still being monitored in Lagos stands at 41, and in Port Harcourt, 255 persons are under surveillance, said Chukwu.

He denied reports that over 60 quarantined persons were missing in Port Harcourt.
The total number of contacts discharged in Lagos after 21 days observation is 320.
The late Port Harcourt doctor, according to the minister, will be decontaminated and buried in the city.
He also pointed out that aside the two current cases in Lagos and Port Harcourt, no other case of Ebola has been confirmed anywhere in Nigeria, including Abuja, Calabar, and Zaria where rumours had been spread to the contrary.

The minister urged the media and public to disregard reports on Ebola outbreaks not emanating from his office.

Sources: Daily Independent