Nigeria, Oct. 26 -- Nigeria may declare the Ebola outbreak over as early as 7 December if no further confirmed or probable cases are detected, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has said.

Mr Pate made this known in a statement shared on his official X handle on Monday, following the medical evacuation of Nigeria's imported Ebola index patient to Switzerland earlier in the day.

He said the date remains provisional and would depend on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) validating the required 42-day countdown.

"Any further case would require a fresh countdown in accordance with those criteria," Mr Pate said.

The minister said Nigeria's ...