The 53 Ebola virus primary contacts quarantined in Abuja didn’t bother much about the virus ruining their health. Costs of running their homes and businesses mattered more to them.

And they had their wish—just for the asking.

“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding,” Jide Idris, director-general, NCDC, said on the weekend in Abuja. “Some of them are asking for a stipend for their families.”

Each of them now receives N100,000 weekly.  That’s about four times Imo’s minimum wage, Nigeria’s highest, standing at N104,000 monthly.

An infected person, WHO says, remains in quarantine farting around for 21 days before showing symptoms, or getting infected enough to spread the bug. Especially in their course of hustling and bustling for their daily bread

Idris said the financial assistance became necessary in getting the support of those contacts the commission already traced. They can stop worrying about the economic hardship the isolation can cause.

“This was not planned for. But it is an emergency,” he said. “We will continue to review it as we go along.”

A Swish-Uguadan diplomat has been identified as the index, and no fewer than 53 people have been traced to her so far.