Members of the House, at the plenary on Thursday, unanimously adopted a motion moved by one of them, Dachung Bagos, who warned that the virus might spread to Nigeria as other African countries had been recording ebola cases.
"Motion of Urgent Public Importance on the Need for Federal Government to Activate Response against the Possible Detection of Ebola in Nigeria" was the title of the motion.
Bagos noted that the Ugandan health authorities, on September 20, 2022, declared an outbreak of Ebola disease, caused by the Sudan virus, following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende District, Central Uganda.
The congressman further mentioned that the World Health Organization voiced worries that the possibility of a major public health impact is considerable in the absence of licensed vaccines and treatments for the prevention and treatment of Sudan virus disease.
According to him, investigations are ongoing to determine the scope of the outbreak and the possibility of spreading. “Importation of cases to neighbouring countries cannot be ruled out at this stage,” he stated.
Bagos continued, "According to the information currently available, the overall risk has been assessed as high at the national level taking into account the confirmed Sudan virus and the lack of a licensed vaccine, the possibility that the event started three weeks before the identification of the index case, and several transmission chains that have not been tracked.
The House is concerned that the Ebola virus is causing concern among a large number of people worldwide because it was the variant that caused a significant number of infections and fatalities in some nations.
The deadly Ebola virus can enter Nigeria through our borders or travelers coming to Nigeria for any reason, and if left unchecked, it could spread to become dominant. "The House is concerned that Nigeria has reason to be warier at the moment."
Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Federal Ministry of Health to “immediately activate strategies to be implemented in monitoring adherence to Ebola guidelines and ensure residents continue to comply with all advisories aimed at curtailing the likely development of the virus in Nigeria.”
The lawmakers also authorized the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to ensure intensive surveillance and inspection on travel protocols for inbound travellers from red flag nations.
They additionally instructed the NCDC to draw up a national response to contain the expected emergence and spread of the Ebola virus in order to spare Nigerians the burden of the pandemic.
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