Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has identified two suspected cases of Ebola disease in the country's north-east region, placing both individuals in isolation while laboratory testing is carried out. The agency disclosed the development on Saturday 31 October in an update posted on its official X account, saying contact identification and listing were also under way.

The NCDC was explicit about what suspected means: being classified as suspected cases does not mean they are confirmed Ebola cases, and confirmation is subject to laboratory results. The agency did not disclose the specific states or health facilities where the individuals were identified, and did not say whether the suspected cases are connected to Nigeria's previously confirmed case.

Context: an imported case in October

Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade on 20 October, involving a 42-year-old woman who had travelled to Nigeria from Uganda through Addis Ababa and tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus in Abuja. That imported case put the country's surveillance system on heightened alert, with tertiary and secondary medical centres directed to operate under a heightened index of suspicion.

As of 29 October, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that 62 contacts linked to the confirmed case had been identified and were undergoing follow-up. Health officials have urged the public not to interpret the identification of suspected cases as confirmation of a new outbreak. Further updates will depend on laboratory results, and this report will be updated when verified information becomes available.