The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has confirmed that Nigeria remains free of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), with zero confirmed cases recorded across the nation.
In a public health advisory released on Sunday, NCDC Director-General Jide Idris stated, “Nigeria currently has no confirmed case of Ebola Virus Disease”.
This reassurance comes in response to a recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a newly confirmed case in Uganda.
To prevent the disease from crossing into Nigeria, the NCDC noted that the agency and other partners are “closely monitoring the situation and working with relevant stakeholders, including the Port Health Service (Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare), to ensure continued vigilance and preparedness within the public health system,” according to the advisory.
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The health agency has urged the public to stay calm, refrain from spreading false information, and continue basic preventive hygiene habits, such as avoiding contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals and washing hands regularly.
Additionally, the agency sent a directive to medical personnel nationwide. “Healthcare workers are advised to maintain a high index of suspicion for EVD in patients presenting with compatible symptoms and relevant travel or exposure history,” the NCDC stated.
The Continental Situation
The local advisory coincides with an announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared an international health emergency on Sunday due to an Ebola strain spreading in the DRC. The strain has claimed over 80 lives, and there is currently no vaccine available for it.
Anxieties intensified on Sunday after a laboratory confirmed a positive case in Goma, a major city in eastern DRC currently under the control of the M23 militia.
According to an update from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Saturday, the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever has caused 88 deaths and resulted in 336 suspected cases so far.
“A positive case in Goma has been confirmed by tests carried out by the laboratory. It involves the wife of a man who died of Ebola in Bunia, who travelled to Goma after her husband’s death whilst already infected,” Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of the Congolese National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), told AFP.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern over the rising numbers.
“I determine that the epidemic constitutes a public health emergency of international concern,” Ghebreyesus shared on X. He noted, however, that the situation “does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency” under current international health regulations.
