During the first week of March, the virus was detected in three additional states, Anambra, Benue, and Rivers, located in the southern part of the country.

A spokesman for the governor of Nigeria's Anambra state, where the author's Things Fall Apart was born, said the world had lost one of its finest writers and Africa had lost a literary gem.

The father of Chukwuma Soludo, a former central-bank chief, was seized at the end of October in Anambra state, where his son hopes to become governor.