Yobe State Government has activated its public health emergency response system following the confirmation of an imported Ebola case in Nigeria, assuring residents that no case has been recorded in the state.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, Hadiza Sabo, disclosed this on Monday during a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Centre in Damaturu.

Sabo said the measures followed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s (NCDC) confirmation of an Ebola case on October 20, 2026, involving a diplomat who travelled to Nigeria from Uganda and tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain.

“The patient is currently in isolation and receiving care, while the NCDC has activated its national Incident Management System,” she said.

She disclosed that 53 close contacts had been identified and were being monitored as of October 24, while 46 exposed persons had been placed on a 21-day no-fly list as a precaution.

Sabo said the NCDC had classified the risk of Ebola importation into Nigeria as high because of increasing transmission in the region, international travel and porous borders, but noted that there was no evidence of community transmission in the country.

She said Governor Mai Mala Buni had directed the activation of the state’s Public Health Emergency Incident Management System and the development of a comprehensive emergency preparedness and response plan.

According to her, the state had activated emergency response teams, established isolation facilities and intensified contact tracing to prevent the spread of the virus.

Sabo said the State Emergency Operations Centre had been placed on high alert, while coordination meetings had been held with the NCDC, World Health Organisation and UNICEF.

She added that disease surveillance had been strengthened across the state’s 17 local government areas, with officers directed to investigate reports of suspected cases promptly.

The permanent secretary said designated isolation and treatment facilities across the three senatorial zones had been equipped with medicines and personal protective equipment.

She added that frontline health workers had received further training in infection prevention and control, safe sample collection and the management of suspected cases.

Sabo urged residents to practise good hygiene, including regular handwashing with soap and water or the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers.

She also advised the public to avoid direct contact with the blood and bodily fluids of sick persons and to refrain from burial practices involving direct contact with corpses.

The government warned against spreading unverified information and stigmatising people identified as contacts, stressing that being listed as a contact did not mean that a person had contracted the virus.

“Yobe State has no case of Ebola, but our Incident Management System is fully active and operational to protect the people of the state,” Sabo said.