President Goodluck Jonathan declared a
national state of emergency on Friday over the
Ebola outbreak in Africa's most populous
country, and approved 1.9 billion naira ($11.7
million) of emergency funds to contain it.
Nigeria has confirmed seven cases of Ebola in
its commercial capital Lagos since a man fell
sick on arrival from Liberia, two of whom have
died. Several dozen people who came into
contact with the man are under surveillance.
Jonathan's spokesman Reuben Abati said the
money would pay to "strengthen steps to
contain the virus such as ... additional isolation
centres, case management, contact tracing,
deployment of additional personnel, screening at
borders, and the procurement of required items
and facilities".
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said on
Friday that West Africa's Ebola epidemic
constituted an international health emergency
and the virus, which has killed nearly 1,000
people, could continue spreading for months.
The prospect of Ebola in Lagos, Africa's biggest
city with 21 million people, has ratcheted up
alarm about its spread.
Jonathan warned against "spreading false
information about Ebola which can lead to mass
hysteria, panic and misdirection, including
unverified suggestions about the prevention,
treatment, cure and spread of the virus."
He also urged religious leaders to avoid holding
large gatherings that might spread the virus, a
reference to the many "megachurches" that can
draw tens of thousands of faithful from around
the West Africa region to their services.
He asked schools to extend their summer
holidays and "urged that the movement of
corpses from one community to the other, and
from overseas into the country should be
stopped forthwith".
All deaths from sickness should be reported to
the authorities, he added. The state of
emergency is expected to stay in place until the
outbreak is contained.
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