Nigeria has completed the 21-day monitoring period for all 62 contacts linked to the country's reported Ebola case, with none of them falling ill, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said on Friday, November 13, Reuters reported from Abuja.

Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026

NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris announced that the last contact was discharged on Friday. "The 21-day monitoring period for contacts linked to the index case has been completed with the last contact discharged today. We are glad to announce that none of the contacts became ill with the disease, meaning no transmission from the index case," he said, in remarks reported by Nigerian outlets covering the NCDC briefing.

Source: BusinessDay NG / NCDC, Nov 13, 2026

62contacts monitored for 21 days, all cleared, NCDC
13contacts who reported fever or other non-specific symptoms — all tested negative
7Ebola alerts investigated across five states in three weeks — all negative
42 daysfull countdown WHO protocol requires before an outbreak can be declared over

The first case in more than a decade

Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade on October 20, in a traveller who had travelled to Uganda and then returned to Nigeria, Reuters said. The case, confirmed in the Federal Capital Territory, was of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus disease, Nigerian reporting on the NCDC briefing said. The patient was medically evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 and has since recovered and been discharged from hospital, the NCDC said.

Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026

Thirteen of the 62 contacts reported fever or other non-specific symptoms during monitoring, but all 13 tested negative for the virus, Reuters reported. The NCDC also said seven Ebola alerts across five Nigerian states over the past three weeks were investigated, and all seven tested negative.

Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026

Not yet the end of the outbreak

The agency cautioned that completing contact monitoring does not by itself mean the outbreak is over. Under WHO protocols, a country must complete a full 42-day countdown from the recovery or departure of the last confirmed patient before an official end-of-outbreak declaration can be made, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Pate had earlier said Nigeria could be declared Ebola-free as early as December 7, provided no new confirmed or probable cases are detected — a provisional date that depends on completing the 42-day observation period, BusinessDay NG reported. The NCDC urged the public to keep following public-health guidance and remain vigilant.

Source: BusinessDay NG / NCDC, Nov 13, 2026

What happens next

Nigeria now runs out the remainder of the 42-day countdown. Any new confirmed or probable case would restart the clock; if none appears, the WHO — not the NCDC or the federal government — certifies the end of the outbreak, with December 7 the earliest date officials have named.