Arise TV reported Monday that the woman diagnosed with Nigeria’s first Ebola case in more than a decade had left the country on a medical evacuation flight, as authorities monitor 53 contacts.
Arise TV placed the departure at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. The patient was born in Uganda and is the spouse of a Swiss diplomat posted to Abuja.
Reuters reported that it was still awaiting responses from Nigeria’s health authorities and Switzerland’s foreign ministry.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said Oct. 24 that the woman was improving in isolation. Of the 53 contacts it had identified, none had symptoms or had tested positive at that time.
The World Health Organization said Nigeria was the fifth country to detect the virus since the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared May 15.
In an Oct. 25 statement, the Nigerian agency said contact tracing would continue for 21 days from each person’s latest possible exposure.
