Nigeria Closes Schools Due to Ebola Outbreak

Nigeria Closes Schools Due to Ebola Outbreak

Nigeria closed all schools until October 13 due to Ebola. The measure is to prevent the deadly disease from spreading. Students were due back on Monday.

“All primary and secondary schools in private and public sectors are to remain closed until Monday, October 13,” said Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau. “This is to ensure that adequate preventive measures are put in place before students resume.”

“All state ministries of education are to immediately organise and ensure that at least two staff in each school, both private and public, are trained by appropriate health workers,” he continued.

Nigeria reported thirteen cases of Ebola with five deaths. Liberian-American doctor Patrick Sawyer brought the disease to Nigeria when he landed in Lagos on July 20. He died five days later. To date, the hospital discharged a total of seven patients. The only person in isolation “is the wife of the doctor who treated Sawyer.”

“Two of the treated patients, a male doctor and a female nurse were discharged yesterday evening, 25th August, 2014, having satisfied the criteria for discharge,” said Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu. “She [wife of the doctor] is stable but still on treatment at the isolation ward in Lagos.”

The wife is the last confirmed Ebola patient in Nigeria. The disease killed almost 1,500 people total in West Africa with more than 2,600 confirmed cases. Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea are hit the hardest. However, there could be more patients since many do not want to attend the hospitals or relatives prefer to take care of their loved ones.

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