Monitoring of 62 Ebola contacts to end November 13, says NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced that the 62 contacts identified following the confirmation of an imported Ebola case in the country are expected to complete their monitoring by November 13.

According to the latest Ebola Disease Situation Report by Channels Television on Monday, the contacts are scheduled to complete follow-up at different times between October 31 and November 13.

The report indicates that November 13 is the latest projected date for completing the monitoring of all currently identified contacts, although surveillance and contact-tracing activities remain ongoing.

Nigeria confirmed its first case of Ebola disease in the current outbreak on October 20, 2026, after laboratory tests detected the Bundibugyo virus in a woman who had travelled to the country from Uganda.

According to the World Health Organisation, the index patient developed symptoms on October 7, four days after arriving in Nigeria, and sought medical attention at a private health facility in Abuja on October 11. The patient was subsequently evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 for medical care, alongside her husband, who was identified as a close contact.

Based on the NCDC report, contact tracing and monitoring are continuing, with additional contact tracers mapped and trained to strengthen surveillance.

The agency also disclosed plans to assess additional contacts for possible evacuation to the quarantine facility and continue the follow-up of contacts already in quarantine.

The agency revealed after laboratory investigations, that 18 samples have been tested since the outbreak was confirmed, resulting in one positive and 17 negative results. The positive sample was from the index case, while the 17 negative samples comprised 15 collected from contacts of the confirmed patient and two from suspected cases.

The NCDC said the National Incident Management System has been activated under the leadership of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate. Standard operating procedures and job aids have been validated for sample reception, molecular detection, and genomic sequencing.