Federal Government has confirmed Nigeria’s first reported case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, prompting an urgent public health response and the identification of 44 close contacts for monitoring.
Gatekeepers News reports that Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed the development on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, following laboratory confirmation of the infection.
According to the government, the patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda. She was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she reportedly received treatment for several days before laboratory testing confirmed Ebola.
The woman has since been placed in isolation and is receiving medical care, while public health authorities have begun contact tracing.
So far, 44 close contacts have been identified. They include healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and travel contacts who may have been exposed to the infected woman. Authorities are continuing efforts to identify and monitor additional people who may have had contact with her.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the FCT Health Services Secretariat are coordinating the response. Surveillance has also been intensified, while the hospital where the patient was treated is receiving support to strengthen infection-prevention and control measures.
The development comes less than two weeks after the NCDC warned that Nigeria faced a risk of Ebola importation following the confirmation of an imported case in Kenya. On October 7, the agency said there was no confirmed Ebola case in Nigeria at that time but had heightened surveillance because of regional travel and population movement.
The regional situation has continued to evolve. Kenya has now reported nine Ebola cases, all linked to an initial case connected to travel from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda. Kenyan authorities say there is currently no evidence of transmission beyond the identified cluster.
Nigeria had already strengthened its Ebola preparedness earlier this year. In June, President Bola Tinubu approved ₦10 billion in emergency intervention funding and a presidential task force to strengthen preparedness against Ebola and other emerging public-health threats.
