Nigeria has evacuated its confirmed Ebola patient to Switzerland for further treatment, Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate has confirmed.
Pate said the 42-year-old woman departed Abuja on Monday with his approval, accompanied by her husband, who had tested negative for the virus and remained asymptomatic.
The minister said the patient was stable, conscious and able to communicate before departure, with her laboratory results approaching baseline levels. He cautioned, however, that her clinical improvement did not mean she was no longer infectious.
Pate commended the medical personnel who treated the patient and the public health teams that coordinated the evacuation. He said further information would be provided after the couple arrived at their destination.
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The confirmation followed an earlier report by ARISE News that a medical evacuation aircraft had departed from the private aviation section of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Nigeria confirmed the woman’s infection with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus on October 20, after she arrived in Abuja from Uganda via Addis Ababa on October 3 and developed symptoms four days later.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said 53 contacts linked to the case had been identified for monitoring. It also confirmed that two suspected cases, one in the FCT and another in Rivers State, tested negative.
Despite the evacuation, contact tracing and other containment measures remain underway to prevent further transmission.