Ebola: Uganda restricts transit for travellers from DRC

Uganda has barred travellers with a history of travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from transiting through the country as it investigates the traveller who tested positive for Ebola disease in Nigeria.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health announced the measure on Friday, alongside the reinstatement of traveller locator forms “to facilitate timely follow-up and contact tracing where necessary.”

“The Ministry of Health wishes to update the country on an ongoing investigation into the traveller who tested positive for Bundibugyo Virus Disease in Nigeria.

“Available information indicates that the traveller did not exhibit symptoms at the time of departure from Uganda. However, investigations are continuing to establish the timing of symptom onset and the circumstances surrounding her infection,” the ministry noted in a statement signed by its Director General of Health Services, Charles Olaro.

It added that Uganda is working with Nigerian health authorities to establish the traveller’s full travel history, movements and possible exposure. It has also requested additional information from Nigeria, including detailed travel records and genomic sequencing results, where available.

The country insisted that it “remains Ebola-free.”

Uganda had earlier battled an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which was declared on 15 May 2026 after cases were imported from the DRC.

The country recorded 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths, before declaring the outbreak over in August after 42 days without a new locally acquired case.

As of 20 October, the DRC had recorded 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths across eight provinces, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The ministry said infection prevention and control measures had been reinforced at all points of entry and exit and health facilities, while surveillance continued across the country.

It also warned that provisions of Uganda’s Public Health Act would be invoked where public health requirements were breached.

The ministry urged communities to report suspected unauthorised border crossings to relevant authorities for screening and public health follow-up.

The ministry urged travellers and the public to remain calm and vigilant, practise proper hand hygiene and comply with screening and other public health measures.

Uganda’s latest measures follow an earlier clarification after Nigeria announced its Ebola case and said the patient had arrived on an international flight from Uganda.

On 21 October, Uganda said the traveller’s passage through the country does not establish that she contracted Ebola there. The ministry said preliminary information indicated that she had travelled to eastern DRC for business before passing through Uganda and that she had not shown symptoms while in the country.

Uganda also said at the time that it had no active Ebola cases. The latest statement maintains that position, saying investigations with Nigerian authorities are still ongoing.

On Friday, Nigeria announced a genomic finding showing that the virus detected in its patient is highly similar to the virus found in Kenya’s first imported case.

Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, said the finding does not establish that the Nigerian patient was infected in Kenya, as there was no evidence that she had travelled there.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) had earlier said it was investigating a possible link between the Nigerian and Kenyan cases because both patients travelled through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on 3 October.

Kenya’s first case was imported from the DRC through Uganda. The country has since recorded nine confirmed cases, including two deaths, with the eight additional cases linked to the first patient.