The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and Prevention has intensified surveillance and preparedness measures across the country following the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a recently confirmed imported case in Uganda linked to the outbreak.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Jide Idris, on Sunday, however, assured Nigerians that there is currently no confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease in the country.
“Nigeria currently has no confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease,” Idris said in a public health advisory issued on Sunday.
He explained that response activities were ongoing in the affected countries, where health authorities, supported by international partners, had activated emergency public health measures to contain the spread of the disease.
According to him, these measures include enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control protocols, case management, contact tracing and risk communication activities.
Idris said the NCDC was closely monitoring developments due to increasing regional movement across African countries and was working with relevant stakeholders, including the Port Health Services under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, to strengthen preparedness within Nigeria’s public health system.
“NCDC is closely monitoring the situation and working with relevant stakeholders, including the Port Health Services, to ensure continued vigilance and preparedness within the public health system,” he stated.
The NCDC boss described Ebola Virus Disease as a severe viral illness transmitted through direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, secretions, or contaminated materials of infected persons or animals.
He noted that the disease has an incubation period ranging from two to 21 days, while symptoms include fever, weakness, headache, muscle pain, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, unexplained bleeding.
Idris said the agency had continued to maintain surveillance systems for Ebola and other epidemic-prone diseases while strengthening risk communication and community engagement activities nationwide.
He urged Nigerians to remain calm and avoid circulating misinformation about the disease.
“Members of the public should remain calm and avoid spreading misinformation,” he said.
The NCDC advised Nigerians to practice regular hand hygiene, avoid contact with bodily fluids of sick persons, refrain from handling dead animals or bushmeat from unknown sources, and promptly report unusual illnesses to the nearest health facility.
The agency also urged citizens to rely only on updates from official public health authorities.
Healthcare workers were advised to maintain a high index of suspicion for Ebola, especially in patients presenting symptoms compatible with the disease alongside relevant travel or exposure history.
Idris stressed the importance of strict adherence to infection prevention and control measures, including early identification and isolation of suspected cases, proper use of personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, and prompt reporting through established channels.
“NCDC will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as necessary,” he added.
Nigeria gained international recognition for successfully containing an Ebola outbreak in 2014 after an infected traveller arrived in Lagos from Liberia. Through rapid emergency response measures, aggressive contact tracing and coordinated public health interventions, the outbreak was curtailed within months.
The experience prompted significant investments in disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and laboratory capacity by the NCDC and the Federal Government, positioning Nigeria as one of Africa’s leading countries in epidemic response coordination.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation, WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern.
The declaration follows cases of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus in both countries.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the declaration on Sunday in a statement after consulting with both countries.
The statement read, “The Director-General of WHO, after having consulted the States Parties where the event is known to be currently occurring, is hereby determining that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, but does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency.”
As of Saturday, eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths had been reported in Ituri Province of the DRC across at least three health zones, Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.
Two confirmed cases, including one death, were also reported in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, on Friday and Saturday among travellers arriving from the DRC, while a confirmed case was recorded in Kinshasa on Saturday among a returnee from Ituri.
At least four healthcare workers had also died in circumstances consistent with viral haemorrhagic fever.
The statement said this raised “concerns regarding healthcare-associated transmission, gaps in infection prevention and control measures, and the potential for amplification within health facilities.”
Ghebreyesus cautioned that the outbreak was likely far larger than current figures showed, pointing to the high positivity rate of initial samples, cross-border confirmations and rising syndromic reports.
He said, “The high positivity rate of the initial samples collected, the confirmation of cases in both Kampala and Kinshasa, the increasing trends in syndromic reporting of suspected cases and clusters of deaths across the province of Ituri all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread.”
He identified ongoing insecurity, a humanitarian crisis, high population movement and a dense network of informal health facilities as factors worsening the risk, conditions he likened to those that drove the deadly 2018-19 Ebola epidemic in the same region.
Critically, he noted that “unlike for Ebola-zaire strains, there are currently no approved Bundibugyo virus-specific therapeutics or vaccines,” making the situation especially dangero
On international spread, the statement said neighbouring countries sharing land borders with the DRC were “at high risk for further spread due to population mobility, trade and travel linkages, and ongoing epidemiological uncertainty.”
WHO advised the DRC and Uganda to activate national emergency mechanisms, scale up surveillance and contact tracing, and establish specialised treatment centres near outbreak epicentres.
It called for exit screening at all international airports, seaports and major land crossings, and directed that confirmed cases must not travel until two negative tests taken at least 48 hours apart are obtained.
On border closures, the statement was unequivocal. It read, “No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science. They push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease.”
WHO also called on affected countries to implement clinical trials for candidate therapeutics and vaccines and urged that mass gatherings be postponed “until BVD transmission is interrupted.”
Ghebreyesus said he would convene an Emergency Committee as soon as possible to refine the temporary recommendations issued alongside the declaration.
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