President Goodluck Jonathan has confidently assured the United Nations that Nigeria is now free of Ebola, but said that the world must act in unison to stop the disease from becoming a global disaster.

But doctors said he jumped the gun in giving Nigeria a clean bill of health from Ebola.

“We can confidently say that today Nigeria is Ebola free,” Jonathan told the largest diplomatic gathering in the world to a ripple of applause at UN headquarters in New York.

Ebola screening at Lagos Airport. even outbound passengers will now be screened

“Nigeria is Ebola free,” he said a second time to further applause.

“While Nigeria was able to respond effectively to control the spread of the disease, the situation in Liberia and Sierra Leone requires sustainable, collective global action to contain. Through the concerted efforts of our healthcare professionals, the World Health Organisation and our international partners, we have been able to contain the EVD and we can confidently say that Nigeria is today, Ebola-free,” he said.

Nigeria has contributed $3.5 million towards helping Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea countering Ebola, by providing training and capacity building, he said.

“We have however continued to support efforts at containing the spread of the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It is pertinent to stress the need for the international community to properly appreciate the enormity of the EVD challenge.

“Indulging in isolationist and discriminatory tendencies will only worsen an already critical situation. To prevent the disease from becoming a global catastrophe, the UN must accord it the concerted effort it deserves,” the President said.

He spoke at the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations.

At an earlier meeting with Jonathan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commended President Goodluck Jonathan for Nigeria’s efforts at containing the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.

Doctors said earlier they would have to wait to declare the outbreak over despite the Nigerian federal health ministry saying all patients being monitored for the virus had been cleared.

The World Health Organization says eight people have died out of 20 confirmed cases in Nigeria since July.

The Nigerian government has given a lower figure of seven deaths in 19 cases.

“The outbreak in Nigeria can be declared officially over only if there are no more cases after 42 days,” the head of the Emergency Operation Centre for Ebola in Lagos, Faisal Shuaib, said earlier in an email.

“Or two incubation periods from the last confirmed case,” he added.

Nigeria has not reported any new cases since September 8, the WHO said. If there are no further cases, Nigeria could be declared Ebola-free on October 20.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, confirmed that Nigeria was completely free of EVD.

The WHO says more than 2,400 men, women and children are known to have died from the outbreak, and nearly 5,000 other people have been infected with the disease.