The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has identified Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Kano and several other states as being at high risk of Ebola importation following ongoing outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The agency said the risk assessment was driven by increasing international travel, regional population movement, porous borders and uncertainty over the full scale of the outbreak.
Other states listed as high-risk include Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba and Adamawa, while Ogun, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Niger and several others were placed on moderate alert.
Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Jide Idris, disclosed the development in a public health advisory issued in Abuja.
“The current Bundibugyo virus outbreak has no licensed vaccines or approved targeted therapeutics,” Idris said, warning that existing Ebola vaccines mainly target the Zaire strain and “should therefore not be relied upon” for the present outbreak.
According to the NCDC, 1,077 suspected Ebola cases and 247 deaths have already been reported in the DRC and Uganda, with the fatality rate estimated at 24.6 per cent.
Despite the concerns, the agency stressed that Nigeria has not recorded any confirmed Ebola case linked to the outbreak.
The NCDC said its National Emergency Operations Centre had been placed on alert mode, while rapid response teams, laboratories and surveillance systems nationwide had been activated to strengthen preparedness.
President Bola Tinubu has also called for increased vigilance against Ebola and Lassa fever, urging authorities to sustain disease surveillance and emergency response measures across the country.
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