Ebola scare in Yeoville
YEOVILLE - The death of a Nigerian man in a Yeoville guest house hours after he arrived in South Africa petrified the Yeoville community as they suspected he died from Ebola, an epidemic which has hit west Africa recently.
According to police, the man arrived in the country on the morning of 19 October and booked in at Anchor Guest Lodge at the intersection of Kenmere and Minors streets.
Yeoville police spokesperson Constable Thabo Malatji said around 5pm, the guest started to complain he was feeling hot and he was given five glasses of water. Malatji said, “Around 8pm the guest’s condition worsened and the ambulance was called, but it did not arrive immediately and the man died around midnight.”
Malatji said it was alleged the ambulance only arrived around 2am and the people initially blamed the late arrival of the ambulance for the man’s death. He added that because the man had travelled from a west African country, a region which has been hit by Ebola, people suspected he died of Ebola and started to panic. Malatji said, “An expert from the department of health had to be called to the scene. The expert conducted tests on the man’s body and the results came back negative. He did not die of Ebola.” He added the police were still waiting for the post mortem results to determine the cause of the guest’s death.
