Nigeria confirms Ebola case in Abuja and begins tracing 44 contacts
A woman who arrived on a flight from Uganda is receiving care in isolation. Nigerian officials have identified 44 contacts, while Uganda’s government disputes that Ebola is present there.
Nigeria confirmed an Ebola case in Abuja on 20 October 2026, after laboratory testing of a woman admitted to a private hospital in the Federal Capital Territory. Health officials have identified 44 close contacts and begun tracing possible exposures, according to a statement by Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate.
The woman had recently arrived on an international flight from Uganda, the minister said. She is in isolation and receiving medical care. Pate told public broadcaster NTA that tracing was under way, Reuters reported.
How Nigeria is tracing contacts in Abuja
The 44 identified contacts include healthcare workers, other patients, caregivers and travel contacts, according to the minister’s statement. Public health teams are identifying and monitoring people who may have been exposed. The hospital is receiving support to strengthen its infection prevention measures, while surveillance has been intensified.
Pate said the woman first showed symptoms on 7 October and was admitted to the Abuja hospital on 11 October, Deutsche Welle reported. The minister’s statement says she received care there for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed on 20 October. Those dates give health teams a period of potential exposure to investigate, but officials have not established publicly where or how she became infected.
The federal government urged public and private healthcare facilities across Nigeria to remain on high alert. Its statement called on healthcare workers to identify and isolate suspected cases promptly, follow infection prevention procedures and report suspected infections to public health authorities.
Uganda disputes the reported travel link
Ugandan government spokesperson Alan Kasujja responded, ‘There’s no Ebola in Uganda,’ Reuters reported. The reported flight from Uganda does not establish where the woman contracted the virus. Reuters said Uganda recorded 20 cases in May and June and was declared free of Ebola by the World Health Organization in August.
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control said two weeks earlier that it was stepping up surveillance after Kenya recorded its first cases, Deutsche Welle reported. Its preparations focused on early detection, isolation, laboratory diagnosis, contact tracing and protecting healthcare workers. Jean Kaseya, head of the African Union’s public health agency, said the agency had begun mobilising support for Nigeria, according to Reuters.
Pate pointed to Nigeria’s containment of Ebola in 2014 as experience for the current response, Reuters reported. For now, the immediate task described by officials is to monitor the identified contacts and find anyone else who may have been exposed during the patient’s travel or hospital care.
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Sources and context
- Nigeria records its first Ebola caseDeutsche Welle
- Nigeria confirms Ebola case in Abuja, begins contact tracingPremium Times Nigeria
- Nigeria confirms Ebola case in patient who arrived from UgandaReuters, carried by The Straits Times
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.