Symbolic imageNigeria's Ebola patient did not visit Congo, Switzerland says, as Kenya reports second death
Switzerland says Nigeria's first Ebola patient in over a decade never travelled to Congo and was probably infected in Uganda. Kenya reported a second death.
The Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday, 23 October, that the patient is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat in Abuja. This contradicts Uganda's earlier account that she had been in eastern Congo. Uganda says it has no active cases, and the WHO had declared it Ebola-free in August. WHO incident manager Catherine Smallwood said staff in Congo had no information that the woman went there. Nigeria confirmed the Bundibugyo case on Tuesday, and health minister Muhammad Ali Pate says it remains contained, with 44 high-risk contacts identified.
Entebbe airport link under review
Africa CDC says the Nigerian patient and the first Kenyan case both passed through Entebbe on 3 October. Its emergency chief Wessam Mankoula stressed that no connection has been established. WHO adviser Marion Koopmans called the theory speculative without evidence of shared space.
Second death in Kenya
Kenya's health ministry said a 65-year-old woman, a close contact of the first patient, died on Friday evening. Of nine confirmed cases, seven remain in isolation. The ministry says all belong to one chain of known contacts and shows no evidence of community spread.
Abuja dispute over emergency fund
Opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar demanded an account of the N10 billion Ebola fund approved in June. The APC campaign council says the money is untouched and accuses him of politicising the outbreak.