Ebola is back in Nigeria. On Tuesday, 20 October 2026, the federal government confirmed a case in the Federal Capital Territory after laboratory results came in the same day. The patient, who had recently arrived from Uganda on an international flight, had been admitted to a private clinic in Abuja and treated there for several days before the diagnosis was made. She is now in isolation.
The timeline set out by the WHO shows a gap of several days between her arrival and confirmation. The woman entered Nigeria on 3 October, developed her first symptoms on the 7th and went to a private health facility on the 11th. Nigeria thus becomes the fifth country affected by this outbreak, declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 15 May 2026.
Contact tracing is under way. The health ministry has identified 44 contacts so far, including health workers, patients, caregivers and people who travelled with the patient. Coordinating Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate initially described her condition as stable, but the NCDC said on Wednesday that her health had worsened to the point of multiple organ failure.
At an emergency meeting in Abuja on Wednesday morning, Olajumoke Babatunde, head of public health laboratory services at the NCDC, said the case involves the Bundibugyo strain, the one spreading in the DR Congo. There, the toll reported by Congolese authorities has passed 9,000 cases, with 4,381 deaths. Kenya has confirmed nine infections, while Uganda, hit earlier, has since declared itself free of the virus.
The response brings together the federal health ministry, the NCDC, Abuja’s health services, the WHO and Africa CDC. The NCDC has activated its incident management system, and a free hotline, 6232, runs around the clock for reporting suspected cases. Authorities have also urged people not to spread false information on social media.
The country has a precedent to lean on. In 2014, Nigeria recorded 20 cases and 8 deaths before the WHO declared it Ebola-free on 20 October, a success widely praised at the time. Virologist Abdulsalami Nasidi, who headed the NCDC during that crisis, believes the country can contain the new threat, provided the health agency is funded and a command structure is run from the presidency, as in 2014 and during Covid-19.