How travellers from Ebola-affected kontris fit declare dia health status bifor entering Nigeria
Wia dis foto come from, Anadolu via Getty Images
Di Nigeria govment don ask dia citizens to dey calm afta dem announce on Tuesday say di kontri don confam one case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
Dis confam case na one women wey health authorities for Nigeria say bin travel from Uganda, kontri wey di World Health Organisation bin declare Ebola-free on 27 August dis year, afta di disease bin catch about 20 pipo and kpai two for di kontri.
Nigeria Health Minister, Ali Pate tok say di woman travel documents no show say she travel to di Democratic Republic of Congo wey be di current epicentre of dis fresh Ebola outbreak, and wia dem don confam more dan 9,000 Ebola cases and ova 4,500 Ebola deaths.
However, di Uganda Ministry of Health release a statement wia dem tok say dis patient na "Nigerian woman wey bin travel to Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for business".
"To travel through Uganda no establish say di infection bin occur for hia. Di location of exposure remain under investigation," di statement tok.
As e be now, Nigeria health authorities don start to trace di contact of about 44 pipo wey bin get contact wit dis first Ebola case wey don already dey for isolation for one hospital facility for Abuja.
However, many Nigerians dey wonder how di woman manage to enta di kontri, despite say di Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) bin don dey tok say dem dey alert to prevent di virus from entering di kontri.
True-true, for 22 September dis year, di NCDC bin publish one public health advisory to explain measures wey dem bin put in place "to prevent di importation and spread of di (Ebola) disease.
One of dat measure na di 'health declaration form' wey travellers from kontri wit active or relevant EVD transmission dey required to complete as dem dey enta Nigeria.
However, di form dey mandatory for only pipo from four African kontris: Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.
"If you dey arrive from kontri wey no get relevant Ebola transmission, you dey currently exempt from completing di Health Declaration Form," di NCDC write for dia Facebook handle on 25 September, 2026.
Uganda no follow for di kontris wey e dey mandatory for travellers from dia to fill di health declaration form.
Wia dis foto come from, NCDC
Dis health declaration na four quick steps for di NCDC Health Declaration portal wia di traveller go first fill personal information like name and contact address, travel history for di past 21 days, and dia emergency contact for Nigeria.
Den di pesin go answer some health questions about current symptoms wey e dey feel and also about dia vaccination history. Afta dat, di pesin go review all im answers and den submit.
Afta submitting di form, di traveller go receive email of a PDF and QR code wey e must present to di Port Health Officer as e arrive Nigeria.
According to di NCDC, to complete dis health declaration form no go take more dan five minutes.
Di commission however add say dem go dey review dis measures "in line wit di evolving epidemiological situation and public health risk assessment".
One medical doctor for di NCDC wey tok to BBC News Pidgin on di condition of anonymity, say wit dis development of Ebola coming into Nigeria, "e dey certain say di govment go expand di list of kontris wey travellers from dia must to complete di health declaration form".
Nigeria dey ready to contain Ebola?
Wia dis foto come from, Femi Gbajabiamila/X
Dis na anoda questions wey many Nigerians dey ask, like Ayoku TJ wey wite for X say: "Hmm.....I hope say wey go dey proactive bifor di matter get out of hand."
For June dis year, di federal govment of Nigeria announce say President Bola Tinubu don approve di sum of 10 billion naira and also set up task force to prevent make Ebola virus disease no enta di kontri.
Chairman of dat ogbonge taskforce na di Chief of Staff to di president, Femi Gbajabiamila, and di members come from different govment ministries, departments, and agencies, plus representatives from di various states of di kontri.
Di mandate wey President Tinubu give di task force include:
- To intensify screening of passengers for all international airports, including enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols;
- To increase monitoring of passengers wey dey come in through high-risk airline routes including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines;
- To immediately activate di referral and isolation centres for Lagos and Abuja international airports, wit oda airports to follow.
- To activate mandatory QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers from or wey pass through designated high-risk kontris
- To disinfect departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas, and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures
- To consult wit security, diplomatic, and aviation bodis to regulate flights from affected and high-risk kontris
- To designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures
- To consider adjusting flight timings to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and odas
Also, di NCDC personnel wey follow BBC News Pidgin tok, also say plenty upgrades don dey go on bifor now for dia laboratories and oda facilities to make sure say Nigeria dey well-prepared to contain di Ebola virus if e enta di kontri.
Di doctor say even sometime last year, e get wen dem get scare of pesin wey get symptoms like EVD but prompt isolation and testing immediately show say no be di virus.
