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Ebola: New Details Suggest Patrick Sawyer Escaped Quarantine In Liberia Before Heading To Nigeria

August 7, 2014

"Because he had contact with somebody who died from Ebola, he was quarantined in his own country, but he evaded the quarantine and came to Nigeria..."

Fresh information from Liberia suggests that the late Patrick Sawyer, the first man to die of Ebola in Nigeria, was in fact quarantined by Liberian health authorities prior to boarding a flight to Nigeria.

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Patrick Sawyer of Liberia

THIS DAY reports that Liberian Minister of State II for Foreign Affairs, Sr. Nurudeen Mohammed, said that this information arose upon discussion of talks between President Johnson-Sirleaf and Nigeria's Ambassador to Liberia, Chigozie Oby-Nadozie. Sawyer's sister had allegedly died of the virus before his trip to Nigeria, a tragedy that is said to have been his method of contracting the virus.

Vice President of ECOWAS, Dr. Toga Mcintosh, further confirmed that Sawyer did in fact flee medical watch placed upon him after his sister's reported death. At a briefing today, Mcintosh said "because he had contact with somebody who died from Ebola, he was quarantined in his own country, but he evaded the quarantine and came to Nigeria."

The minister encourages affected West African countries to come together to combat the crisis, rather than shuffle the responsibility.

Sawyer is reported to have acted erratically and looked sick on CCTV footage from Liberia's James Spriggs Payne airport in Monrovia, Liberia, raising security suspicion there. Despite this, he was allowed to fly out of the country.

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