Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

The government of the oil rich state of Rivers has shut the hotel, where an Ebola stricken ECOWAS official was treated by a local doctor, now deceased.

The Mandate Hotel and Gardens, at Rumuokoro, Port Harcourt, where the ECOWAS official camped was found desolate this morning.

 Dr Iyke Samuel Enemuo,  the doctor who died from Ebola in  Port Harcourt,the Rivers State, had his clinic not far from the hotel .

He died on 22 August after being infected by his patient.

Shut: Mandate Hotel and Gardens

His wife, also  a medical doctor and nursing a three month old baby  has also tested positive for the disease and has been shipped to the isolation ward in Lagos.

At a briefing in Port Harcourt, health commissioner, Sampson Parker  said  staff at Enemuo’s clinic have not been confirmed to have the virus.

“They have not been confirmed (as having Ebola) and we are waiting for the result of the investigation,” he told a news conference.

Some 200 primary and secondary contacts have been traced, although about 60 had yet to be spoken to, he added. None of them had shown symptoms, he said.

“We are concentrating on the names we have to capture in our (monitoring) activities but the good news is that we have been making good progress in checking the spread of Ebola,” he said.

Parker appealed to those who had contact with Enemuo at the hotel, his clinic, the ECOWAS official or the hotel where he stayed to contact the his ministry immediately because early treatment is very important.

Meanwhile, Nyesom Wike, the Junior Minister for Education has politicised the Ebola outbreak in the state,  blaming  the Rivers State Government for not being proactive in stemming  the outbreak in the state.

 Governor Chibuike Amaechi has  however cautioned politicians to desist from playing politics with Ebola.”The disease does not recognise the party you belong. It is an affliction on humanity. This is not the time to play politics with disease and human lives.We,as government have put all necessary contingency measures to curb the spread.”