Nigeria Has No Confirmed Ebola Cases After Patient’s Evacuation to Switzerland — WHO

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Professor Mohamed Janabi, has said Nigeria currently has no confirmed Ebola cases following the medical evacuation of the country’s index patient and her husband to Switzerland.

The evacuation took place on Monday, October 26, 2026, after Nigerian medical teams stabilised the infected woman, who had been receiving treatment in Abuja. Both she and her husband are Swiss citizens.

Janabi said Switzerland would take responsibility for the woman’s continued treatment and monitor her husband, who had not shown symptoms. Nigerian authorities, meanwhile, will continue monitoring 52 people who had contact with the patient.

Nigeria confirmed its first imported case of Ebola in the current outbreak on October 20, after laboratory tests detected the Bundibugyo strain of the virus in a 42-year-old woman who had travelled to Nigeria from Uganda.

According to Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, the patient’s condition improved significantly during treatment by Nigerian health workers. She was stable, conscious and able to communicate before leaving the country.

However, Pate warned that an improvement in her condition did not necessarily mean she was no longer infectious. Strict medical and public health protocols were therefore followed during the evacuation. The woman was transferred to Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland, while her husband was placed in isolation at University Hospital Zurich for monitoring.

Despite the patient’s departure, Nigerian health authorities are continuing contact tracing and surveillance to prevent further transmission. The 52 contacts remaining in Nigeria are being monitored for possible symptoms, while health officials continue investigating the circumstances surrounding the infection.

Authorities have urged the public to remain vigilant and rely on information from credible sources rather than assume that the outbreak has ended. The WHO has also clarified that having no confirmed cases currently within the country is not the same as being officially declared Ebola-free.

Nigeria must continue surveillance and complete the required outbreak-monitoring period before the current outbreak can be officially declared over. The 42-day countdown is based on twice the maximum 21-day incubation period of Ebola. The countdown and final declaration depend on the applicable public health criteria and whether any further confirmed or probable cases emerge.

The development highlights the role of Nigerian health workers in stabilising the patient and coordinating the medical evacuation with international partners. For now, the focus remains on monitoring exposed individuals, detecting any possible new infections early and preventing further spread of the virus.