The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Nigeria must complete a 42-day monitoring period before it can be officially declared free of Ebola, despite the evacuation of the country’s confirmed patient and her husband to Switzerland.
Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the period was necessary to monitor people who had contact with the patient and establish that no further transmission of the virus had occurred.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Ihekweazu disclosed that 53 contacts had been identified and were subject to monitoring as part of efforts to contain the infection.
He explained that the monitoring process would involve an initial 21-day period, followed by another 21 days before Nigeria could receive an official declaration that it was Ebola-free.
“What it means still is that we have about 53 people, contacts, individuals with whom that individual had contact over the days that she was ill.
“And now we have to continue to follow each of them for 21 days and then require another 21 days, coming up to 42, in order to declare Nigeria Ebola-free,” he said.
Ihekweazu said the timeline was based on established WHO protocols applied in countries responding to similar incidents.
“These are the standard protocols as defined by the World Health Organisation, where I work, and which we use in every country around the world that has a similar incident,” he added.
The clarification followed a statement by the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, who said Nigeria currently had no active Ebola cases following the medical evacuation of the confirmed patient and her husband to Switzerland.
Janabi said Nigerian medical personnel had successfully stabilised the patient before her evacuation, while Swiss authorities would take responsibility for her continued treatment and the monitoring of her husband, who was identified as contact number 53.
“The Nigerian medical team successfully managed her through the acute phase of the illness and stabilised her condition. With the evacuation of the patient and her husband, Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases,” Janabi added.
Despite the absence of active cases in Nigeria, Ihekweazu stressed that the country must maintain surveillance until the required monitoring period was completed.
He said the priority was to track every identified contact daily, detect any further infection promptly and initiate an appropriate response if another case emerged.
The WHO official also dismissed suggestions that the patient’s evacuation was prompted by the inability of Nigerian health facilities to manage Ebola.
“On Tuesday we saw the medical evacuation of the patient from Nigeria to the country from which the patient came. This wasn’t a response to any deficit in the management capacities in Nigeria,” he said.
According to Ihekweazu, the evacuation was undertaken at the request of the patient’s country of origin.
He explained that Ebola cases required a coordinated public health response because the disease belongs to a group of infections known as viral haemorrhagic fevers.
“For certain diseases, a group of diseases we call the viral haemorrhagic fevers, of which Ebola is one of them, we consider every single case an equivalent of an outbreak and requiring a coordinated response,” he said.
Ihekweazu commended Nigeria’s handling of the case, citing the speed of laboratory confirmation and genetic sequencing, as well as the medical care provided to the patient.
“We’ve had excellent case management in Nigeria. Lab confirmation happened very quickly. We had a sequence happen very quickly. So I think appropriate measures have been carried out,” he said.
He also clarified that the WHO had not recommended restrictions on political rallies or other public gatherings in response to the incident.
“We haven’t advised any restrictions on further gatherings. Our advice is never political. It’s always technical. And we will continue to support the government in this response,” he said.
The WHO official urged Nigerians to cooperate with the government and relevant health agencies, stressing that the daily monitoring of identified contacts remained central to preventing further transmission.
“The key thing now is for every single contact that the patient had to be followed up every single day, that is happening, and to ensure that there’s no further transmission, if there is transmission, to detect it early and respond appropriately,” he said.
Ihekweazu expressed confidence that Nigeria could contain the incident through continued cooperation between the government and the WHO, urging the public to avoid politicising the response.
