‘She’s a diplomat’, NCDC gives update on Abuja Ebola patient

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has given an update on the lone case of Ebola Virus in the country.

Daily Trust reports that on Tuesday, Health Minister, Muhammad Ali, had announced that a female patient who had travelled from Uganda in East Africa, tested positive for the virus.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria confirms one case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following laboratory confirmation today, 20 October 2026. The patient, a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she received care for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed. She is currently in isolation and receiving medical care.

“The FG calls on all public and private healthcare facilities nationwide to be on high alert. Healthcare workers must maintain a high index of suspicion, promptly identify and isolate suspected cases, observe strict infection prevention and control measures, and immediately report suspected cases to public health authorities.

“Investigations are ongoing, and we will continue to provide accurate and timely information,” Pate had said.

But in a statement issued after Pate’s comment, Charles Olaro, Director-General of Health Services in the East African country, clarified that the patient is a Nigerian.

Olaro said the woman had travelled to Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has nearly 10,000 active cases with 4,500 deaths from Ebola, for business and transited through Uganda in early October.

According to Olaro, she showed no symptoms while in Uganda but developed symptoms after arriving in Nigeria.

“Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation,” the ministry said.

“The Government of Nigeria is yet to provide detailed information on her travel itinerary and clinical history which will guide further investigations and any necessary contact tracing.

“We wish to clarify that, as at the time of this statement, Uganda has NO confirmed active Ebola cases.”

Giving an update on Wednesday, the NCDC said the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola diagnosed in the FCT has to do with a diplomat whose condition has deteriorated.

At an emergency incident management meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, Olajumoke Babatunde, NCDC director of the public health laboratory service, said the Ebola case detected in Nigeria is the Bundibugyo strain.

First discovered in Uganda in 2007, Ebola Bundibugyo is a rare and severe species of the genus Orthoebolavirus that causes Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), a form of viral hemorrhagic fever in humans.

“We did three levels of tests, but all were molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo,” Babatunde said.

“This person is actually a diplomat,” another official said, adding that the patient’s condition had deteriorated into multi-organ failure.