Agency says Nigeria’s only confirmed case remains the imported infection in Abuja, as Adamawa suspects test negative
ABUJA – The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says all 62 people identified as contacts of Nigeria’s imported Ebola case are expected to complete monitoring by November 13, 2026.
In its latest Ebola Disease Situation Report, the agency said contacts would finish follow-up at different times between October 31 and November 13. It did not provide a breakdown by individual dates. Contact tracing and surveillance are continuing, and more tracers have been mapped and trained.
Contacts are monitored for 21 days from their last possible exposure and include healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and household members.
Nigeria confirmed its first case of the current outbreak on October 20, after tests detected the Bundibugyo virus in a woman who had travelled from Uganda. According to the World Health Organisation, she developed symptoms on October 7, four days after arriving in Nigeria, and sought treatment at a private facility in Abuja on October 11.
Nigeria became the fifth country to detect the virus since the outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on May 15. The patient was evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 with her husband, who was identified as a close contact.
Two suspected cases in Yola, Adamawa State, were ruled out after two rounds of laboratory testing. NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris said Adamawa has no confirmed case and that the Abuja infection remains Nigeria’s only one.
Premium Times reported on November 1 that the two were a 34-year-old pilot and his wife, a medical doctor, admitted to the isolation centre of the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital on October 29. Citing an internal memo from the state health ministry, it said the pilot travelled to Kenya on October 14 and returned on October 25. The NCDC did not disclose their identities.
Of 18 samples tested since the outbreak was confirmed, one was positive, from the index case, while 17 were negative: 15 from contacts and two from suspected cases. Genomic sequencing was concluded by the NCDC’s National Reference Laboratory and the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases. The agency plans to extend testing capacity to Lagos.
The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital is being prepared as an isolation and treatment centre, with a dedicated ambulance on standby. The NCDC will also assess surge isolation capacity at Karu General Hospital and may move additional contacts to a quarantine facility.
Response and next steps
The National Incident Management System has been activated under Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, and the Incident Action Plan has been finalised.
The agency said it would:
Review guidelines on contact tracing, self-quarantine and case definitions
Build an Ebola dashboard on SORMAS
Strengthen preparedness in high-risk states
Introduce an infection prevention and control “ring” strategy
Retrain environmental health officers
