Nigeria Could Be Declared Ebola Free by 7 December, but WHO Says Not Yet

The minister tied the target to the 42-day countdown that the World Health Organisation applies before an outbreak can be called over. Furthermore, he said the date must still be validated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and by WHO.

WHO has since pushed back on any suggestion that the country is already in the clear. In reports published on Tuesday, the organisation denied that Nigeria has been declared Ebola free and restated the 42-day requirement.

WHO generally declares an Ebola outbreak over after 42 consecutive days with no new cases. That is twice the maximum incubation period of the virus.

The clock does not start on the day a patient recovers. Instead, it runs from the second negative test of the last confirmed patient, or from that patient’s death where applicable.

One new case resets everything. For this reason, the 7 December target is a best case rather than a schedule, and health officials have been careful to frame it that way.

The Federal Government confirmed Nigeria’s only case in the Federal Capital Territory on 20 October. The patient, a woman who had travelled from Uganda, spent her treatment in isolation in Abuja.

She and her husband were evacuated to Switzerland on 26 October. Consequently, the WHO Regional Director for Africa said Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases on its territory.

That evacuation is the detail that explains the apparent contradiction in the headlines. No patient in the country is not the same as an outbreak formally declared over, and only the second of those requires the 42 days to elapse.

Contact tracing continues regardless of where the patient now is. The NCDC said on Sunday that it was monitoring 53 primary contacts, while WHO has referred to 52 under monitoring.

Those contacts include health workers, the patient’s household staff and the team that collected her samples. We set out the full breakdown in our report on how the NCDC widened tracing to 53 people.

Teams watch each contact for 21 days from last possible exposure. Meanwhile, the national countdown to a declaration depends on none of them developing the disease.

States have not stood screening down. The federal government ordered checks at all entry points and placed 15 states on alert, and that directive remains in force.

Adamawa ordered mandatory screening for incoming travellers. Similarly, Gombe activated an Ebola emergency centre while continuing its cholera response, and Yobe switched on its public health emergency system without recording a case.

Keeping those measures running costs less than rebuilding them. Still, the pressure to relax them grows once the public hears that the country may soon be declared clear.

Declaring Nigeria Ebola free would close the outbreak, not the accounting. Atiku Abubakar has demanded a full breakdown of the N10 billion Ebola emergency fund, and no published account yet shows how much reached state teams.

The NCDC also approved a weekly allowance of N100,000 for eligible people in isolation or quarantine. In addition, that payment runs while contacts remain under watch, which ties the cost directly to the length of the countdown.

A formal declaration closes the outbreak in the record. It does not switch off the systems that handled it, and health officials generally keep surveillance running for a further 90 days afterwards.

For travellers, little changes immediately. Screening at entry points is a federal directive rather than an automatic consequence of outbreak status, so it lasts until the government ends it.

For hospitals, the practical gain is staffing. Staff who moved onto isolation and tracing duty return to ordinary work, and that matters in a system already short of people.

Nigeria Ebola free is therefore a milestone rather than a finish line. The same entry routes that carried one case in October remain open in December.

Three signals will decide whether Nigeria Ebola free becomes official on that date. The first is whether any of the monitored contacts develops symptoms, because a single confirmed case restarts the 42 days.

The second is whether the NCDC and WHO jointly confirm the start date of the countdown, since the public target depends on it. The third is whether entry screening holds up through November, when attention naturally drifts.

Nigeria handled its 2014 outbreak well enough that WHO certified the country free of the virus that year. By contrast, this episode has turned on one imported case rather than a chain of local transmission, which is why the window to close it is short.

No. The health minister said the outbreak could be declared over as early as 7 December if no new cases emerge, and WHO has denied that any declaration has been made.

Because WHO requires 42 consecutive days with no new cases before an outbreak is declared over, and the minister’s provisional date reflects that countdown.

She and her husband were evacuated to Switzerland on 26 October. The WHO Regional Director for Africa has said Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases.

The NCDC said on Sunday it was monitoring 53 primary contacts. WHO has referred to 52 under monitoring.

Any new confirmed or probable case. The 42 days would then begin again from the second negative test of that patient.

Yes. The federal directive on screening at entry points stands, and states including Adamawa, Gombe and Yobe have kept their own measures running.

Recommending and sharing stories helps us decide which stories are most important to show our readers.

Recommend Story 0 Share: About the author Pamela Daniel Paul Business Reporter Abuja, Nigeria

Pamela Daniel is the sharp, go-to Real Estate Business Writer for The Gazette News, Nigeria’s premier digital journalism network, where she demystifies the fast-paced world… Read full bio →

Google News Follow WhatsApp Join channel Telegram Join channel Facebook Join channel X Join channel Instagram Join channel YouTube Join channel LinkedIn Join channel TikTok Join channel Pinterest Join channel Support independent journalismSupport independent journalismThe Gazette takes no government money. If this reporting was useful to you, a one-off contribution helps us keep reporters in the field and our work free to read.

Secure payment · One-off or monthly · Cancel anytime

Comments are moderated under our Commenting Guidelines. Be human, be fair.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

31,400 Heat Deaths Could Hit Nigeria Before February: Where the Danger Is Highest and the Steps That Save Lives

Fintiri Donates N50m To Patients At Two Yola Hospitals On His 59th Birthday

Lassa Fever Deaths in Nigeria Hit 206 in 2025

Adamawa Orders Mandatory Ebola Screening for Incoming Travellers

The Gazette Daily Brief — the five stories that matter, in your inbox by 7am.

We use cookies to run the site, understand which reporting is read, and — where you agree — to show ads matched to your interests. Read our Cookie Policy

Your ad blocker is on. Advertising is what pays our reporters and keeps this site free to read — no subscription required. Allowing ads here costs you nothing and helps us keep reporting.

Continue without ads Need help? Contact us

Advertise with The Gazette Advert placement & enquiries Talk to our team about advert placement, sponsorships and partnership enquiries. We usually reply within business hours.