By The Evangelist News
The Federal Government has confirmed one case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and has begun tracing 44 people who had contact with the patient.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, announced the confirmation on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, after laboratory tests.
According to the minister, the patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, where an Ebola outbreak has spread alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo and led the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern. She is in isolation at a private hospital in the FCT and is receiving medical care.
EnviroNews reported that the case is an imported infection of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. The Federal Government’s statement referred only to “Ebola disease,” and the strain has not been independently confirmed. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) noted in May that no approved vaccine or specific treatment exists for that strain.
Pate said contact tracing is under way, with 44 close contacts identified so far. They include healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and people who travelled with the patient. Public health teams are working to identify and monitor others who may have been exposed.
The minister urged Nigerians to remain calm but vigilant, practise regular hand hygiene and avoid contact with the body fluids of anyone suspected to have Ebola. He said the Presidential Taskforce on Ebola Virus Disease and the NCDC will keep issuing updates. He also assured the public that Nigeria has the experience and systems to respond, having contained the 2014 outbreak.
Healthcare facilities nationwide have been asked to stay alert, isolate suspected cases promptly, enforce strict infection prevention and control, and report suspected infections immediately. The public can report suspected cases to the NCDC on its toll-free line, **6232**.
For Akwa Ibom, the confirmation follows an NCDC advisory in May that classified the state among 10 at high risk of importation, alongside Lagos, FCT, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Cross River, Taraba, and Adamawa. At the time, the agency said Nigeria had no confirmed case, warned that the classification may change as the situation evolves, and asked all states to set up isolation facilities and strengthen screening and infection control.
