The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has placed the country on heightened Ebola alert, warning that Nigeria faces a significant risk of importing the Ebola Virus Disease as outbreaks continue to spread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Director-General of the agency, Jide Idris, said no confirmed Ebola case has been detected in Nigeria, but noted that nationwide surveillance and emergency response systems have already been activated to guard against a possible outbreak.
The agency identified international travel, increased population movement, porous borders and delayed detection of symptoms as major factors heightening the country’s vulnerability to the disease.
According to the NCDC, the risk assessment classified the likelihood of Ebola being imported into Nigeria as high due to ongoing transmission in the DRC and Uganda, uncertainty surrounding the full scale of the outbreaks, and the possibility of delayed diagnosis because Ebola symptoms can resemble those of malaria and Lassa fever.
