Suspected Ebola patient causes panic at Lagos airport

Passengers and other users of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos were on Wednesday thrown into panic as a suspected Ebola patient was flown into the country by Royal Air Maroc in the early hours of the day.

The Moroccan airline arrived Lagos from Casablanca at 6am.

The victim, one Theophilus Onnakhinon, a Nigerian, was said to have been flown into the country by the airline, while his younger brother, Chinedu Eroka, absconded from Sierra Leonean authorities.

As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear why Eroka absconded from the Sierra Leone.

A source close to the Port Health Services at the airport, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that the passenger had already been treated for the Ebola Virus Disease and declared cured.

The source said the passenger was assisted into the country by a Nigerian consular official, Mrs. T. Mohammed.

According to the source, the consular officer accompanied  Onnakhinon into the country in order to avoid stigmatisation by Nigerian health officials and others at the airport.

On arrival, he was immediately handed over to the Port Health officials, who immediately isolated and quarantined him.

As of the time of filing this report, Onnakhinon was still being observed by the Port Health officials.

The source said that the essence of his being quarantined was for the officials to determine his health status and confirm that he was indeed free of the disease before being allowed to integrate into the society.

The source said, “It is true that there was an Ebola scare at the Lagos airport today, but the fact is that the victim had been cured of the disease in Sierra Leone before being assisted into Nigeria by our consular officer in that country.