No confirmed case Lassa Fever in Abuja; water taps to run dry, self-help increases

Water taps are to run slow and, in some cases, dry in areas that depend on public water supply in the nation’s federal capital city and environs.
Many residents may not be bothered as investigations revealed that more and more in Abuja are being left out of public water supply as population continues to outstrip infrastructure.
Many in estates, even within city limits, now depend on boreholes as the water board is not known to have expanded its facilities in recent times. Residents are known to have generated their water supply for years as efforts to persuade water board officials have led to high charges to expand facilities to communities, estates, and homes.
With the inability of government to meet needs of Nigerians, residents are responsible for water and power supply in Abuja and other parts.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) allow residents of estates to build power infrastructure and take them over, without paying compensation.
It is not known how long the new development of dry taps will last but the management of the Federal Capital Territory Water Board said due to urgent maintenance work being carried out in Lower Usuma Dam Raw Water Pumping Station, customers in some districts may experience disruption or low pressure in water supply from Monday, January 27, 2020.
“Our esteemed customers are therefore advised to store enough water henceforth, while our technical crew work round the clock to ensure prompt completion of the job and restore regular supply of water,” the management added in an announcement.
The announcement comes as the government disclosed that there is no confirmed case of Lassa Fever in the FCT.
This was revealed during an emergency meeting of medical experts and senior members of the FCT Administration convened by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello on Monday, 27 January, 2020 to ascertain the status of the FCT following Lasa Fever outbreaks in some neighboring states.
The meeting was also to ascertain the preparedness of the FCT Health Authorities to tackle a possible outbreak of the disease in the Territory.
The meeting, according to Mr. Anthony Ogunleye, the spokesman for the FCT Minister, had experts in human virology and infection prevention and control from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), World Health Organisation (WHO), University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Infection Prevention and Control Committee, National Hospital Medical Advisory committee, FCT Chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Port Health Services, FCT Primary Healthcare Board and Department of Public Health in attendance.
Addressing the gathering, the Minister stressed that the FCT had good medical facilities, adding that an outbreak could be an indictment on the health care especially if it is  uncontained and not effectively managed.
Malam Bello who expressed relief that there is no known case of the disease in the FCT however called on the medical experts to be prepared to forestall any outbreak, be it Lassa Fever or the Coronavirus.
He also stressed the need for Area Council Chairmen to be actively involved in the planning and execution of prevention and treatment programmes since a possible outbreak will most likely impact more in the grassroots areas of the Area Councils.
He also urged the experts to synergize all their efforts for optimum results while calling on residents to take all necessary preventive measures to avoid contracting the deadly disease.
While urging all health workers to follow all protection protocols to avoid getting infected, Malam Bello directed the release of  additional vehicles for the use of the Department of Public Health for the purpose of the Lassa Fever prevention campaign.
Malam Bello also directed that all stakeholders should hold regular meetings even when there are no visible threats so as to perfect plans for a foolproof mechanism to handle the breakout of any infectious disease.
He said: “Even after this is over, the same group of stakeholders should be meeting regularly to see what has been done and what needs to be done so that we don’t really have to wait  to have any situation like the one at hand to start discussing as to what we need to do”.
Speaking on the preparedness of the FCT for any possible outbreak of Lassa Fever, the Director of Public Health, Dr. Josephine Okechukwu stressed that even though there was no identified case of Lassa fever in the FCT the Administration will remain on high alert as long as there could be a possibility of a breakout occasioned by reported cases of the disease in neighbouring states.
Dr. Okechukwu said already disease surveillance and monitoring officers have been trained and have received support of motorcycles to intensify surveillance in the rural communities, adding that the reference laboratory in Gaduwa is fully functional to investigate blood samples for proper diagnosis of any suspected case of the disease.
She reiterated that Lassa Fever was a disease caused by lack of proper hygiene, calling on residents to ensure that their homes and environments were free of rats which are known to be  carriers of the disease.
The Director added that already, awareness campaigns have been intensified on ways of preventing the disease and strongly advised against self medication adding that anyone feeling unwell should immediately seek medical attention.
Also  speaking at the meeting, the Chairman, Infection Prevention and Control Committee, University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Dr. Yunusa Tahir and the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, National Hospital Abuja, both agree that there was need for all medical personnel to work together and be prepared in case of an outbreak while calling on FCTA to provide a treatment centre for any confirmed case of the disease in the FCT.