Photo: Head of Romania’s Cyber-Security Directorate Dan Cimpean (L) was in charge of co-ordinating the crisis response

One after another the calls came in from hospitals; criminals were infecting computer networks in a mass hack that was putting countless lives at risk.

At Bucharest’s national cyber-security centre (DNSC) they watched helplessly as the hackers spread across Romania through a popular piece of medical software.

Cyber-chief Dan Cimpean had a tough decision to make, but it was the only option they had.

The order went out to more than 100 hospitals. Disconnect from the internet, now.

The cyber-attack on Romania’s hospitals in February 2024 is one of the worst to target healthcare systems around the world, but these incidents are becoming increasingly common.

Healthcare is now the most targeted area of critical national infrastructure, the FBI has said recently.

Cutting off 100 hospitals in Romania from the internet stopped the hackers in their tracks, buying time to work out how bad the attack was.

But it meant no connected devices, emails or web browsers.

Medical staff had to switch to pen and paper, improvising workarounds to protect patients while IT teams scrambled and the national cyber response centre tried to find out how the hackers had got in – and how they could stop them.

Their actions over four days from 10 February 2024, and those of the doctors and nurses, have been widely praised.

How they reacted and how they coped has become a test case for disaster planners internationally, as officials look for advice on responding to a mass hospital hack.

(Credit: BBC News)

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) recorded 214 Lassa fever death between January to June this year.

The agency said that the Case Fatality Rate was climbing to 25.0 percent from 18.9 percent during the same period in 2025.

This is contained in the NCDC Lassa Fever Situation Report for Week 23 (June 1 to June 7).

Said the report: “New confirmed cases held steady in week 23, matching the count from week 22.“Infections were reported in Edo, Ondo, Bauchi and Ebonyi. No new healthcare worker infections were reported during the week.

“The outbreak has spread across 23 states and 109 Local Government Areas since January 2026,” it said.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate release of N10 billion to strengthen the operational preparedness of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and prevention and support critical national public health emergency response activities.

The President also established a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Control.

This follows the rapidly expanding outbreak that has already killed at least 349 people across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, with the World Health Organisation declaring it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the task force would be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, with membership drawn from relevant ministries, departments and agencies .

The task force was constituted following a stakeholder meeting convened by Gbajabiamila to review Nigeria’s preparedness.

It was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Lagos State Government, among others.