Obama wants the U.S. Congress to provide close to $1.9 billion for vaccine development, faster diagnostic tests, and new tools for killing the mosquitoes that carry the virus, which can cause a rare birth defect in newborns and neurological disorders in adults.

“We’ve got to get moving,” Obama told reporters after meeting top health officials in the Oval Office.

“This has to get done over the course of the next several weeks in order for us to be able to provide confidence to the American people that we’re handling this piece of business,” he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 157 pregnant women in the continental United States and another 122 in U.S. territories, primarily Puerto Rico, had tested positive for the infection.

That’s a jump from its previous report of 48 cases in pregnant women in the continental United States and 65 cases in U.S. territories.

The Senate has pledged $1.1 billion for Zika and the House of Representatives voted to redirect $622.1 million in funding mainly by cutting programs for the Ebola virus. Lawmakers are now faced with hashing out a compromise on a funding bill.

Obama said both plans fell short. The White House has said Obama would veto the House plan.

“If I’m a young family right now, or somebody who’s thinking about starting a family, this is just a piece of insurance that I want to purchase,” Obama said, urging Americans to tell their lawmakers to boost funding.

U.S. health officials have determined that Zika, which can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person, can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by unusually small head size, and can lead to severe brain abnormalities and developmental problems in babies.

The CDC told reporters on a conference call on Friday that so far fewer than a dozen of the infected pregnant women it has tracked in the United States and Puerto Rico have had miscarriages or babies born with birth defects. Brazil, the country hardest by Zika to date, has confirmed more than 1,300 cases of microcephaly linked to Zika.

CDC officials said the agency will now report on a weekly basis all pregnant women in the United States and its territories who have any laboratory evidence of potential infection, regardless of whether virus symptoms are present, whereas previously its tracking focused on symptomatic cases.

Officials say only about 20 percent of people with Zika display common symptoms, such as fever, rash, joint and muscle pain and red eyes.

The data will be compiled from a pregnancy registry in the United States and a similar surveillance system set up in Puerto Rico, where officials are expecting hundreds of thousands of Zika cases.

Dr. Margaret Honein, chief of the CDC’s birth defects branch, said including asymptomatic cases “casts a broad net to make sure we are monitoring all pregnant women who may be at risk for poor outcomes associated with Zika.”

The decision follows reports of miscarriages and babies born with birth defects to women who had no recollection of having experienced Zika symptoms, she said.

The CDC told reporters it has dramatically increased its testing capacity for Zika in the United States as it girds for an increase in cases during the summer mosquito season, when Gulf coast states such as Florida, Louisiana and Texas are expected to be on the front lines of local transmission.

Virtually all the Zika cases in the continental United States so far have been in people returning from countries where Zika is prevalent, such as Brazil, with a small number attributed to sexual transmission by such travelers.

In addition to microcephaly, the World Health Organization has said there is also strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

USA Swimming said on Friday it has moved a pre-Olympic training camp from Puerto Rico to an aquatic center in Atlanta due to concerns about Zika, but does not expect the virus to keep the team from competing at the Rio Games in August.

Two weeks earlier, Major League Baseball said it would relocate two games that were set to be played in Puerto Rico due to concerns among players about Zika.

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The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Dr Queeneth Kalu, made this known when she briefed newsmen on the outcome of the blood samples carried on the patient in Calabar on Saturday.

Kalu said a temporary A&E ward had been set up to attend to patients, noting that those quarantined had also been released and directed to report twice daily for self-monitoring.

According to her, preliminary result of the blood samples of the patient does not indicate any traces of Ebola virus or Lassa fever.

“We are pleased to inform you that preliminary tests have excluded Ebola and Lassa fever. Further tests are being done for confirmation in line with international standards,” she said.

The management further said that all clinical services in the hospital were still opened on inpatient and outpatient basis. “We are grateful to all who have shown concern over this incident,” she said.

The decontamination exercise was carried out by officials of Medical Response Unit, Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health.

After the exercise, leader of the team, John Kehinde, Director of Environmental Health, Centre for Disease Control, advised members of Staff of the A&E ward to go about the normal jobs.

“There is no cause for alarm. They should continue their work without fear because everything is now okay, but they should ensure that the environment where they work is always clean.

“This is what we do in cases of any contagious infection and it will last for 72 hours after which the ward will opened for staff and patients,” Kehinde said.

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The governor in a state broadcast on the management of EVD, on Sunday said though the state has suffered painful loss of lives, the situation was not an epidemic as is being alleged because all those who have either died or suffering from Ebola are directly traceable to the Liberian EVB importer, Patrick Sawyer.

He disclosed that 61 contacts were cleared last week after the 21 days surveillance, which is the known lifespan of the virus.

“These people were not sick. They were persons who needed to be monitored because of real or suspected contacts to be certain that they did not eventually fall sick. We cautiously wait to see how many more people will be cleared and hope that there will be no new cases.

“Nevertheless, our strategy is to prepare for the worst by making plans to expand the facility to take any new cases, while we hope for the best. There is a lot to do, and we need your collaboration to remain focused on containment and treatment.

He also debunked claims that Ebola victims were being neglected, adding that the state did not reject any useful drug, neither is there fund shortage and assured that victims were receiving the best care as recommended by experts, urging medical volunteers willing to fight the cause to sign up and avail themselves for trainings.

“I wish to state very categorically that none of these is true. What is true is that we should perhaps never have been in this situation, but we are now in it. What is true is that the Ebola virus did not break out from within Nigeria, it was imported into Nigeria.

“What is true is that we have followed all the contacts that we know who have had primary and secondary contacts with the patient who imported the virus into our state, or with people who had contact with him.

“Because we had to react to an unexpected situation, we had to react in a proper and methodical way, according to acceptable global health standards.

“I can now tell you that in the last one week, with the help and advice of our technical partners, such as the World Health Organisation, the Centre for Disease Control and the Medecins Sans Frontiers, who have tracked this virus and studied it for decades, our response is a lot better than when the news first broke; and our capacity is increasing daily.

“Although we have suffered very painful losses of lives, I think it is fair to say that we are not yet at an epidemic stage and we are determined to do everything not to get to that stage; because of the grave consequences to the safety of human lives,” said Fashola.

According to the governor, the discovery of EVD in the state, poses a threat to the primary purpose of his administration, which is to safe lives, describing the situation as the biggest challenge to public health.

He stated that he has been engaged in daily meetings with various stakeholders on the progress made by government and the need for caution, adding that with news of complete recovery of a Nigerian doctor confirmed to have contracted the virus, the case of unknown origin has been eliminated.

“My view of the fact that we are gaining control, is informed by verifiable facts that I receive daily from our health workers that all the cases of those who have either unfortunately died, or those who are sick, and those who are contacts under surveillance are directly traceable to the imported case.

“The challenge of managing the Ebola virus is big but our resolve to contain and defeat it is bigger. That resolve is demonstrated by the courage shown by the first set of health workers at state and federal levels who stood up to be counted, and the leadership of the state and federal Ministries of Health with the support of our international partners.

“In spite of fear, they stood up to be counted at a time of grave danger. We should salute their courage, professionalism, patriotism and humanitarian disposition. They are the heroes and heroines that we have looked for a long time. I cannot thank them enough.

“While we are doing everything to assure their safety and to give them confidence to proceed; I want to passionately appeal that we must not do anything to distract them or demotivate them.”

He called on those seeking to raise funds to tackle the situation to desist from the act, noting that the state still have enough resources to do the needful.

The governor urged the people to report suspected cases around them as well as stop unhygienic practices such as defecating or urinating in public because those are body fluids and waste through which the virus is known to thrive.

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Fashola made the clarification during his inspection visit to the Isolation Ward for patients with Ebola symptoms at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos. The governor also addressed Muslim congregation at the Friday congregational prayers at the Alausa Secretariat mosque.

According to him, the consequences of testing positive to the disease will depend on what is done and what is not done to save the lives of the victims.

The governor pointed out that there were reported cases of people recovering from the disease in other parts of West Africa, where the virus was endemic.

“Now from what the Centre for Disease Control told me yesterday there is no known cure for the virus, but if it is known and diagnosed early, patients can make full recovery because here you can give them very intense medical care.

“Some of these will involve managing their waste, managing their body fluids, giving them antibiotics and fluids to rehydrate their body and to ensure that their immune system is able to find a standing chance to combat and make full recovery as we have seen in some parts of Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

He urged Lagos residents not to panic about the development but take the right precautions against the spread of the disease.

Fashola explained that reporting suspected cases to the right authorities, isolating patients and avoiding unprotected contacts with patients were some precautions that would help contain Ebola spread.

The governor explained that the creation of Isolation Wards at the hospital was part of measures by the State Government to bring the threat under control.

Fashola urged private hospitals to establish a first line of defence against the spread of the disease by taking precautions right from entry of patients and creating Isolation Wards.

Fashola said, “The private hospitals must isolate because we cannot do this alone. People are going to go to them sometimes before they are referred to us.

“So they must take the same precaution and defence and create isolation wards in their hospitals now for people they suspect might have the disease.

“They should monitor if they are all cleared, discharged and if they are not cleared, let us know immediately so that we can either come and pick or you move to us.”

Fashola implored those having the virus to be courageous enough to report themselves for care and avoid close contacts with other people.

He urged residents to maintain good personal hygiene and environment as diseases thrived in dirty environments.

While commending the Nigerian Medical Association for suspending its strike to attend to the national emergency, he urged health workers to continue to do their best to contain the spread of the disease.

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The commissioner spoke in Akure when he appeared before the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, to defend the ministry’s budget in the 2014 Appropriation Bill.

Adeyanju noted that the upgrade of the laboratory would enhance partnership with other international research centres like the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), US.

According to him, the health laboratory will help in analysing health reports and encourage different health programmes that will attract international recognition to the activities of the state government.

Adeyanju said funds for the maintenance of existing mother and child trauma centre and procurement of ambulances for emergency cases had been factored into the budget.

He stated that the state government would embark on the construction of Mother and Child Hospitals in Okitipupa and Ikare-Akoko in the southern and northern senatorial districts respectively.

According to him, the government plans to provide rapid diagnostic tests for malaria and upgrade all general hospitals in the state, to reduce pressure on higher centres or hospitals.

Adeyanju said the government would ensure the training of more pharmacy and laboratory technicians to meet the people’s health needs.

Responding, Fidelis Akinwolemiwa, Chairman of the committee, expressed the readiness of the committee to assist the ministry to achieve its set goals.

The chairman urged the ministry to always carry along members of the house committee on health in their activities at delivering quality healthcare to the citizenry.

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