Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has announced that Nigeria records its first Ebola survivor who has been declared fit and discharged from hospital. 

He told journalists including those from Punch newspaper in Lagos on Saturday that the patient, whose identity has not been revealed, was asked to go home after all the necessary medical examinations were carried out.

“The total number of Ebola cases now stands at 12, while the number of deaths remains four. The people under surveillance in Lagos is now 189, while six are in Enugu, in southeast Nigeria,” he said.

The minister also announced that the drug, Nano Silva, which was thought could be used to treat Ebola patients in Nigeria, was said not to have met the requirements of the National Health Research ethics code.

His statement is coming two days after the death of a fourth Ebola patient was reported.

In an effort to contain the spread of the virus, the Lagos State Government, the only state in Nigeria with reported cases of Ebola, had provided an isolation unit to accommodate persons who tested positive to the virus.

At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Chukwu said eight persons were still alive, more than half of them doing very well and showing signs of recovery.

The discharged patient is believed to be among those he earlier said were recovering.