WHO: Nigeria must complete 42-day monitoring before declaring Ebola-free

Nigeria must complete a 42-day monitoring period and continue tracking 53 contacts of an Ebola patient before it can be declared free of the disease, the World Health Organisation’s Executive Director of Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said.

Ihekweazu said the country must monitor identified contacts for 21 days, followed by a further 21-day period, in line with WHO protocols to prevent further transmission.

Speaking to ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, he said the monitoring process remained essential despite Nigeria’s progress in responding to the confirmed case.

“What it means still is that we have about 53 people, contacts, individuals with whom that individual had contact over the days that she was ill. And now we have to continue to follow each of them for 21 days and then require another 21 days, coming up to 42, in order to declare Nigeria Ebola-free,” Ihekweazu said.

“These are the standard protocols as defined by the World Health Organization, where I work, and which we use in every country around the world that has a similar incident.”

The confirmed patient is a 42-year-old Swiss woman who travelled from Uganda through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, arriving in Abuja on 3 October 2026.

According to Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), she developed symptoms on October 7 and sought medical attention at private health facilities before being admitted on October 11.

The NCDC was notified on October 19, and laboratory tests confirmed Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease on October 20.

Her symptoms included fever, diarrhoea, generalised body aches and a sore throat, although no bleeding was reported.

The woman, who is the wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, was medically evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 following a request from her country of origin. Her husband accompanied her and remained asymptomatic.

Ihekweazu clarified that the evacuation was not prompted by shortcomings in Nigeria’s ability to manage Ebola cases, but was requested by the patient’s country of origin.

He praised Nigeria’s response, citing rapid laboratory confirmation, prompt sequencing and effective case management.

“On the response in the country, you know, I think we’ve advised the country to have appropriate response measures to this, and they have carried this out more or less to the letter. We’ve had excellent case management in Nigeria.”

Ihekweazu maintained that WHO had not recommended restrictions on political rallies or other public gatherings, stressing that its guidance was based on technical assessments rather than political considerations.

“We haven’t advised any restriction of further gatherings. Our advice is never political. It’s always technical. And we will continue to support the government in this response.”

He urged authorities to continue monitoring identified contacts daily, detect possible infections early and respond promptly to any further transmission.

Turning to the wider Ebola situation in Africa, Ihekweazu described the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as severe, saying the country had recorded approximately 10,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths.

He said between 50 and 80 new confirmed cases were being reported daily, with eight provinces affected during the outbreak’s sixth month.

The WHO and its partners have supported the Congolese government by expanding treatment facilities, laboratories and community engagement. Ihekweazu maintained that the response included more than 2,000 active beds and over 25 laboratories.

He also disclosed that vaccine trials involving three candidates had begun in the DRC, led by the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research.

He urged African countries to support the DRC and strengthen their preparedness for future outbreaks.

Ihekweazu said countries should invest in public health expertise, disease surveillance and emergency operations centres rather than assume outbreaks could always be prevented.

He also identified artificial intelligence as a potential tool for improving surveillance and contact tracing, provided reliable and standardised data were available.

“In order to apply artificial intelligence to your data, you have to collect the data in the first place, standardise the data collection, and provide it to those that need to use it to make decisions,” he said.

He stressed that technology alone would not be enough without trained personnel and sustained investment in public health systems.

“So it’s the people. More than the AI, it’s the people, the expertise that needs constant development. And hopefully we will build on the excellent foundations of five years ago.”

Nigeria’s immediate priority remains monitoring exposed individuals, detecting possible infections early, and preventing further transmission before it can be declared Ebola-free.