Nigeria’s index Ebola patient and her husband have been evacuated to Switzerland following an improvement in her health condition, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Government.
Gatekeepers News reports that Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, confirmed the evacuation on Monday, October 26, 2026, stating that the patient had stabilised after receiving treatment in Nigeria.
The evacuation was approved because the patient and her husband are Swiss citizens. The couple departed Abuja aboard a medical evacuation aircraft for continued medical care in Switzerland.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said the patient’s condition had improved significantly following treatment by Nigerian healthcare professionals. However, he cautioned that clinical improvement did not necessarily mean she was no longer infectious.
Janabi explained that Switzerland would take responsibility for the patient’s continued medical management and the monitoring of her husband, who is being tracked as contact number 53.
According to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the 42-year-old woman returned to Nigeria from Uganda on October 3, travelling through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
She subsequently developed symptoms, including fever, diarrhoea, generalised body aches and a sore throat, and sought treatment at private health facilities in Abuja.
NCDC was notified of the suspected case on October 19, and laboratory tests confirmed the Ebola infection on October 20, 2026. The case marked Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola infection in more than a decade, following the country’s 2014 outbreak.
Health authorities identified 53 contacts associated with the case, including healthcare workers, household members, domestic staff and the patient’s husband. Following the couple’s evacuation, 52 contacts remained under monitoring in Nigeria.
Authorities are conducting contact tracing and surveillance in accordance with public health protocols, which require exposed individuals to be monitored for 21 days after their last potential exposure. NCDC has also urged healthcare facilities to strengthen infection prevention and control measures, promptly isolate suspected cases and report them to the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, scientists from Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) are investigating the origin of the infection and possible links to Ebola cases reported elsewhere in Africa.
