WHO Declares Nigeria Ebola-Free After Evacuation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases following the medical evacuation of the patient and her husband to Switzerland.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, disclosed this in a statement on his official X handle on Monday.

Janabi said the evacuation took place earlier in the morning, noting that both the patient and her husband are Swiss citizens.

According to him, the patient was clinically stable after Nigerian medical teams successfully managed her through the acute phase of the illness and stabilised her condition.

He added that Nigeria would continue to monitor 52 contacts, while Switzerland would manage the patient and follow up with her husband, listed as contact number 53.

Janabi congratulated the Federal Government, health workers, clinicians, emergency responders and other partners involved in the Ebola response, describing the development as a remarkable achievement.

He said the successful management of the patient demonstrated Africa’s expertise, resilience and leadership in public health, particularly when countries work together to respond to health emergencies.

However, the WHO regional director stressed that vigilance remained critical despite the evacuation, urging continued attention to contact monitoring and other response measures.

Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, also confirmed the evacuation in a post on his official X handle.

Pate said the evacuation was approved by him and carried out early on Monday, with the patient accompanied by her spouse, who remained asymptomatic.

“The index patient was clinically much improved, stable, conscious, communicating, and her clinical laboratory test results closing towards baseline.

“This does not mean she is not still infectious, hence the strict protocols in place,” he said.

Pate commended the clinical staff for providing quality care and public health personnel for ensuring that the evacuation complied with appropriate public health measures.

He said the government would provide further updates once the patient and her spouse had arrived safely at their destination, adding that public health measures remained in place to ensure the imported virus was contained.

Nigeria confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola Virus Disease on Oct. 20, following laboratory confirmation of infection in a woman with recent travel history to Uganda.

The patient developed symptoms on October 7, four days after arriving in Nigeria, and sought medical care in Abuja on October 11, according to the WHO.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) activated its incident management system, while health authorities commenced contact tracing, laboratory investigations and infection prevention measures.

The NCDC’s October 24 situation report identified 53 contacts linked to the case, including healthcare workers, domestic staff and the patient’s spouse. None had tested positive at the time of the report.

On October 23, Pate said genomic analysis showed that the virus isolated from the Nigerian patient was closely related to the one identified in the index case in Kenya. He, however, cautioned that the genetic relationship did not establish a direct link of transmission between the two cases.

A species of Ebola virus causes Bundibugyo virus disease. Transmission occurs through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.