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The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has announced enhanced Ebola screening and surveillance measures at all international airports in Nigeria.
This follows the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda on May 16, 2026.
In a press release dated May 20, 2026, and signed by Henry Agbebire, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN stated that it has intensified passenger surveillance and monitoring.
The agency said the measures are focused particularly on travellers arriving from high-risk regions, in collaboration with Port Health Services and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The authority stated that any suspected case would be immediately isolated and undergo further health screening in line with national and international health protocols.
“Any suspected case will be promptly isolated and subjected to secondary health checks in line with established national and international health protocols,” the statement partly reads.
The earliest suspected case of the current outbreak was a man who began experiencing symptoms on April 24, 2026, and died three days later. The World Health Organisation was alerted to a potential Ebola outbreak on May 5, 2026, and dispatched a response team.
The first positive tests were confirmed on May 14, 2026, after initial samples tested negative because the tests used only detect the Zaire strain of Ebola, not the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the current outbreak.
The WHO said the outbreak may be worse than what has been reported so far. This is because there have been many unexplained deaths, a high number of positive test results, and little information about how the disease is spreading.
As of May 16, health authorities had recorded eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths in Ituri Province in eastern DRC.
However, FAAN emphasised that there is currently no confirmed case of Ebola in Nigeria.
