Nigeria may declare Ebola outbreak over December 7, says minister

Nigeria may declare the end of its imported Bundibugyo Ebola Virus Disease case on Dec. 7, provided no further cases are recorded and health authorities validate the date.

Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, disclosed this on his official X handle on Monday following the medical evacuation of the index patient to Switzerland.

Pate said the proposed date was provisional and depended on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the World Health Organization validating the 42-day countdown.

“Any further case would require a fresh countdown in accordance with those criteria,” he said.

He said the immediate priorities remained monitoring identified contacts, investigating alerts promptly and strengthening preparedness across health facilities.

The minister added that response teams, working with the Federal Capital Territory Administration, state health authorities and development partners, remained focused on containing the virus and preventing community transmission.

Pate urged Nigerians to remain calm, cooperate with contact-tracing teams and follow regular updates from the NCDC and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Pate earlier announced that the index patient was evacuated from Nigeria to Switzerland on Monday following significant clinical improvement.

The minister said the patient was stable, conscious and communicating, with laboratory results approaching baseline levels.

He, however, cautioned that the improvement did not necessarily mean the patient was no longer infectious.

“The patient was accompanied by her spouse, who had remained asymptomatic,” he said.

NAN reports that Nigeria confirmed its first imported case of the virus disease on Oct. 20 after a woman with recent travel history to Uganda tested positive.

The NCDC identified 53 contacts linked to the case, including healthcare workers, domestic staff and the patient’s spouse.
The agency said the contacts were being monitored, with none testing positive at the time of the report.

On Oct. 23, Pate said genomic analysis showed that the virus isolated from the Nigerian patient was closely related to the strain in the index case in Kenya.

He cautioned, however, that the genetic relationship did not establish a direct transmission link between the two cases.

The Federal Government has also intensified surveillance at points of entry, strengthened infection prevention and control in health facilities, and urged healthcare workers to promptly report suspected cases.

The government has urged Nigerians to observe basic preventive measures, cooperate with public health officials and avoid spreading unverified information about the disease.

NAN