Ebola: Uganda restricts transit for travellers from DR Congo

Uganda has barred travellers with a history of travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from transiting through the country as authorities investigate a traveller who later tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria. The Ugandan Ministry of Health announced the restriction on Friday and reinstated traveller locator forms to support contact tracing and follow-up.

In a statement signed by Director General of Health Services Charles Olaro, the ministry said available information indicated that the traveller had no symptoms when she departed Uganda. It said investigations were continuing to establish when symptoms began and where she may have been exposed.

Uganda is working with Nigerian health authorities to reconstruct her travel history and movements. It has requested further information, including detailed travel records and genomic sequencing results where available. The ministry maintained that Uganda had no active Ebola cases.

Authorities said infection prevention measures had been strengthened at border points and health facilities, alongside continued nationwide surveillance. The ministry warned that breaches of public health requirements could attract action under Uganda’s Public Health Act.

It also urged communities to report suspected unauthorised border crossings so those involved could undergo screening and appropriate follow-up. Travellers and residents were advised to remain calm, practise hand hygiene and cooperate with screening and other public health measures. Uganda had previously experienced an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus disease after cases were imported from the DRC in May 2026.

The country recorded 20 confirmed cases, including two fatalities, before declaring the outbreak over in August following 42 days without a new locally acquired case. According to WHO figures cited in the report, the DRC had recorded 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 fatalities across eight provinces by October 20.

Uganda’s latest announcement follows its October 21 clarification that the Nigerian patient’s passage through the country did not establish where she contracted the virus. The ministry said preliminary information suggested she had visited eastern DRC for business before travelling through Uganda.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, said on Friday that genomic analysis showed a high degree of similarity between the virus detected in Nigeria’s patient and that identified in Kenya’s first imported case. Pate stressed that the finding did not establish infection in Kenya, as there was no evidence that the Nigerian patient had travelled there.

Africa CDC had earlier said it was investigating a possible connection because both patients passed through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on October 3. Kenya’s first case involved a traveller arriving from the DRC through Uganda. The report said Kenya subsequently recorded nine confirmed cases, including two fatalities, with the eight additional infections linked to the first patient.