Okiki Adeduyite
A Swiss woman who tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria and was flown to Switzerland for treatment has recovered and has been discharged from the hospital in Geneva.
The woman was released from Geneva University Hospitals on Wednesday, November 11, after medical personnel confirmed her recovery and the cantonal physician authorised her discharge.
The hospital disclosed this in a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday.
“After the medical team confirmed her full recovery, the cantonal physician authorised the patient being treated for Ebola virus disease to leave the Geneva University Hospitals on November 11, 2026,” the statement said.
The woman, who was born in Uganda, and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were evacuated from Nigeria to hospitals in Switzerland in late October after she tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
She had reportedly spent a two-week holiday in Uganda before returning to Abuja, where she developed symptoms and subsequently tested positive on October 20.
Her case raised concerns about possible transmission in Nigeria, where health authorities had been monitoring the outbreak.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said 62 contacts had been identified following the case, with 10 still under monitoring as of November 11. No deaths had been recorded in Nigeria.
The NCDC’s latest update showed that the country had recorded one confirmed case, while seven suspected cases tested negative.
According to Reuters, experts are investigating how the woman contracted the virus.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General, Jean Kaseya, had earlier told the news agency that investigations would establish the source of her infection.
The Bundibugyo virus outbreak, first identified in May, has spread across parts of Africa, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo recording more than 11,000 confirmed cases, making it the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported 11,042 confirmed cases and 5,387 deaths in the DRC as of November 10.
The Bundibugyo strain is a rare type of Ebola virus for which there are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments.
PUNCH Online reported on Wednesday that 28 of the 62 contacts identified after the imported case were still under surveillance, while 34 had completed the mandatory 21-day monitoring period, according to the NCDC’s update as of November 9.
However, the NCDC’s situation dashboard showed that the number still under follow-up had dropped to 10 as of November 11, with 52 contacts having exited monitoring. The agency also reported no additional confirmed cases or deaths in Nigeria, leaving the imported infection in the FCT as the country’s only confirmed case.
The Federal Government had earlier said Nigeria could be declared free of the outbreak by December 7 if no further confirmed or probable cases were detected, subject to validation of the World Health Organisation’s 42-day countdown.
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