WHO Places Nigeria In Low Risk Bracket As Ebola Death Toll Hits 246 In DRC, Uganda

Nigeria faces a low risk of an Ebola outbreak compared to several other West and Central African nations currently grappling with the haemorrhagic disease, the World Health Organisation has confirmed, even as the virus continues to spread across the Democratic Republic of Congo and into Uganda.

The Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Chikwe Ihekweazu, made the disclosure on Tuesday during an appearance on Arise Television’s Morning Show, where he provided a status update on the rapidly evolving outbreak and the international response it has triggered.

Ihekweazu confirmed that Uganda is presently the only country outside the Democratic Republic of Congo to record laboratory-confirmed Ebola cases linked to the current epidemic. “Uganda is the only country with confirmed Ebola cases outside the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria’s risk is low,” he said.

Despite the favourable assessment for Nigeria, the WHO official cautioned that the outbreak remains a major international public health concern, warning that complacency could prove costly given the virus’s history of unpredictable cross border transmission. “This Ebola outbreak is serious and requires an internationally coordinated response. It has already spread to other countries,” he stated.

The severity of the situation prompted the WHO to classify the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a designation reserved for extraordinary events that constitute a public health risk to multiple states and potentially require a coordinated global response. According to Ihekweazu, the declaration carries significant historical weight. “It is only the ninth time in history that an outbreak has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” he said.

The former Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention added that the current Ebola situation is only the third time the disease has crossed the threshold required for a PHEIC declaration. “This is the third time Ebola has met this criterion. There are over 300 confirmed cases spread throughout the DR Congo,” Ihekweazu stated.

Ebola Virus Disease is a severe and frequently fatal illness affecting humans and non human primates, transmitted through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons, as well as contaminated surfaces and materials. The virus has been responsible for several catastrophic outbreaks across the African continent since its first identification in 1976, with case fatality rates historically ranging between 25 and 90 percent depending on the strain and quality of medical intervention.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is currently at the centre of the latest epidemic, battling a major outbreak of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever. According to data from the African Union’s specialised health agency, Africa CDC, the disease is suspected to have killed at least 246 people across the DRC and Uganda combined.

Faced with mounting transmission risks, authorities in the eastern DRC moved on May 23 to suspend all commercial flights to and from the airport in Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, a region already destabilised by prolonged armed conflict. Only medical and humanitarian aircraft are presently permitted access to the facility, a measure designed to contain the spread while preserving emergency response capacity.

Nigeria has previously demonstrated capacity to contain Ebola, having successfully halted a 2014 outbreak that entered the country through an infected Liberian American traveller in Lagos. That episode, which resulted in eight deaths from 20 confirmed cases, is widely cited by global health authorities as a model containment effort.

Health authorities across affected regions have intensified surveillance, contact tracing, and community engagement efforts as part of the broader containment strategy, with the WHO continuing to coordinate technical and logistical support to frontline nations.