Authorities of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital on Saturday released the 15 persons that were quarantined following an Ebola Virus Disease scare after the death of a patient.
The management of tertiary health institution also formally announced that it had temporarily shut the Accident and Emergency Ward and decontaminated the unit following the death of the patient.
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of UCTH, Dr. Queeneth Kalu, said this in Calabar, Cross River State, while briefing journalists on the outcome of the blood samples collected from the patient.
Kalu stated that another temporary Accident and Emergency Ward has been set up in the hospital to attend to patients.
She said those who were quarantined have been released, adding that they had been directed to report twice daily to the hospital for self-monitoring.
Those quarantined were medical personnel and others within the ward moments before the patient died.
They included nine nurses, one doctor, four health workers and one patient.
According to her, the preliminary result of the blood samples of the dead patient did not indicate any trace of Ebola virus or Lassa fever.
She said, “We are pleased to inform you that preliminary tests have excluded Ebola and Lassa fever. Further tests are being done for confirmation in line with international standards.”
The management further said all clinical services in the hospital were still opened to inpatient and outpatient.
The decontamination exercise was carried out by officials of Medical Response Unit, Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health.
After the exercise, leader of the team and Director of Environmental Health in the Centre for Disease Control, Mr. John Kehinde, advised members of staff go about their normal duties.
“There is no cause for alarm. They should continue their work without fear because everything is now okay, but they should ensure that the environment where they work is always clean. This is what we do in cases of any contagious infection and it will last for 72 hours after which the ward will opened for staff and patients,” Kehinde said.
The briefing puts to rest recent rumours of Ebola outbreak in the hospital.
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