The World Health Organisation has said Nigeria must complete a 42-day monitoring period before it can be declared free of Ebola, despite having no active cases following the evacuation of the infected patient to Switzerland.
The Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the country must monitor all identified contacts of the patient for 21 days and complete another 21-day period in line with international protocols.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Ihekweazu said 53 people had been identified as contacts of the patient and must be followed up to ensure there was no further transmission.
“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.
“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.”
The WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, had said on Monday that Nigeria had no active Ebola cases following the medical evacuation of the infected patient and her husband to Switzerland.
Janabi said the patient was clinically stable after receiving treatment from Nigerian medical personnel, adding that Switzerland would take responsibility for her continued care 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,” he said.
“With the evacuation of the patient and her husband, Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases,” he added.
Janabi said Nigerian authorities would continue monitoring the 52 contacts remaining in the country, while Swiss authorities would oversee the patient’s husband.
Ihekweazu clarified that the evacuation was not prompted by any inability of Nigeria’s health system to manage the disease but was carried out at the request of the patient’s country of origin.
“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.
“This was at the request of the country of origin of the case.”
He explained that Ebola, a viral haemorrhagic fever, required a coordinated response whenever a case was confirmed, with every case treated as a potential outbreak.
“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.
He commended Nigeria’s handling of the case, citing the speed of laboratory confirmation and genetic sequencing, as well as the medical team’s management of the patient.
“Lab confirmation happened very quickly. We had a sequence happen very quickly. So I think appropriate measures have been carried out,” he said.
“Nigeria’s going to be proud of the response so far.”
The WHO official also said the organisation had not recommended restrictions on political rallies or other public gatherings, stressing that its advice was guided by technical assessments rather than political considerations.
“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.
He added that health authorities were following up with every identified contact daily to detect possible infections early and prevent 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 urged Nigerians to trust the government and relevant health agencies, expressing confidence that the outbreak could be contained if the response remained focused on public health.
“I’m confident that we can support the government to get this under control and not politicise this event at all,” he said.
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