NCDC to pay isolated Ebola contacts N100,000 weekly after complaints over family upkeep

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced a N100,000 weekly allowance for each of the 53 isolated contacts traced to the female Ebola patient in Abuja, the Peoples Gazette reports.

Director-General Jide Idris told reporters on Sunday that the stipend became necessary after isolated people complained about the financial impact on their families.

“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” he said.

He described the allowance as an unplanned emergency measure. “This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” Idris said.

He said the 53 primary contacts comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts. None has tested positive so far.

The 42-year-old patient, who was born in Uganda and is married to a Swiss diplomat, tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus on October 20. She left Uganda for Nigeria on October 3.