The Oyo State Government on Wednesday said it has recorded no case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.
Ajetunmobi said the state began early preparations since mid-May, when cases were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She, however, said that full measures have been activated following the confirmed case in Abuja.
“As far back as June 2026, the state activated the ‘Health Under One Roof’ approach,” she said.
According to her, the approach involved the Ministries of Health, Environment, Information, Agriculture, Epidemiology units, University of Ibadan, and the University College Hospital (UCH).
She said the approach became necessary because some of the diseases were zoonotic and were related to environmental hygiene.
The commissioner emphasised that the state government has also activated its surveillance team across the state’s 33 Local Government Areas.
“The reason we did this is that when these things happen, it may not be in Ibadan. It may be in other areas across the state,” she said.
Ajetunmobi said the government had rolled out Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials in soft and hard copies and plans to mount billboards at strategic locations.
On pillars of response, she said risk communication is ongoing to prevent panic.
“We have a case in Nigeria, not in Oyo State yet, but we don’t want the people in Oyo State to panic.
“Our people should not panic. They should not spread rumours, and they should not ignore signs and symptoms when they see one,” she said.
She said the symptoms include sudden fever, severe headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, excessive and unexplained tiredness, muscle pain, and bleeding from openings in the body.
Ajetunmobi explained that the incubation period is from 2 to 21 days, with the majority developing symptoms within 8 to 10 days.
She explained that a person becomes highly infectious only when symptoms appear.
According to her, the disease spreads through direct contact with body fluids, contact with surfaces contaminated with body fluids or the blood of infected animals or persons.
In addition, she said it could spread through handling of bush meat that was not properly cooked or unsafe burial practices involving washing of infected dead bodies.
She stressed the need for community cooperation to achieve early detection and coordinated response.
“We need community cooperation because if something is happening within your community and you don’t say it, the community gets infected, and before you know it, we have to be tracing people,” she said.
According to the commissioner, the state has activated the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) pillar across health facilities.
Furthermore, she urged health workers to treat every case as infectious and wear gloves, face shields, face masks, and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
“Handwashing is very important. Where you can’t get running water and soap, you can get hand sanitisers,” she said.
She said the ministry has contacted the chairman of the Association of Private Medical Practitioners to cascade IPC messages to private facilities.
The commissioner said training for laboratory personnel is ongoing to ensure safe sample collection.
“History of travel is also very important.
“If you see anybody mounting up the already mentioned symptoms, ask for history of travel, any recent travel particularly to those areas, international travel maybe to DRC, Kenya,” she said.
Ajetunmobi explained that the state would activate the Port Health, which plays an important role in disease control.
“Oyo State Government will continue to mount vigilance at borders, including deployment of infrared thermometers to detect fever.
“On PPE and isolation centres, the Infectious Disease Centre at Olodo is operational and functional.
“Some of the infectious diseases we have this year, Lassa Fever and suspected cases of Diphtheria, were managed at the IDC Olodo,” she said.
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