EBOLA: KEYAMO ORDERS NCAA TO PLACE 46 CONTACTS ON 21-DAY NO-FLY LIST

Read Time:2 Minute, 26 Second

By Aishat Momoh. O.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to notify local and international airlines to place 46 persons who reportedly had contact with Nigeria’s Ebola index patient on a no-fly list for 21 days.

Keyamo gave the directive after a virtual meeting on Wednesday with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, to discuss measures to contain the country’s first confirmed Ebola case since 2014.

The patient was diagnosed with the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus disease after laboratory tests confirmed the infection on October 20, 2026.

According to information attributed to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the woman travelled from Uganda to Nigeria, with symptoms reportedly beginning on October 7, four days after her arrival. She sought treatment at a private health facility in Abuja on October 11.

Reports from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) indicated that she was initially treated for malaria-like symptoms, but her condition failed to improve. Her travel history subsequently raised concerns among attending doctors, prompting further investigations and laboratory testing.

The Director of Public Health Laboratory Services at the NCDC, Olajumoke Babatunde, confirmed the strain during an emergency incident management meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

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

An official at the meeting reportedly disclosed that the patient was a diplomat whose condition had deteriorated into “multi-organ failure”. Her nationality has not been officially disclosed.

Pate had earlier said the patient was in isolation and receiving medical care, while health authorities intensified contact tracing and other containment measures.

Keyamo said the health minister provided him with details of the people identified during the contact-tracing exercise.

“He shared with me a list of 44 persons with whom the affected person came in contact at the hospital when she had developed the symptoms and an additional two persons who are her domestic staff,” he said.

The aviation minister said arrangements were being made to isolate the contacts until health authorities could establish whether they had been infected.

“Whilst efforts are ongoing to isolate them for now until there is certainty they had not been infected with the virus, the aviation authorities are required to put them on a no-fly list for at least 21 days,” Keyamo stated.

He added, “I have therefore directed the NCAA to immediately inform all local and international airlines of this development.”

Keyamo also directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to intensify Ebola surveillance and response measures at international airports.

He said existing measures included enhanced health screening, temperature checks, travel-history tracking, digital health declarations and closer coordination among relevant agencies, including the NCDC.

The WHO confirmed that the patient had contracted the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or speci