Uganda has announced a mandatory 21-day quarantine for citizens returning to the country with a history of travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as authorities tighten precautions against the spread of Ebola. Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi made the announcement on Sunday at a media briefing at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala, where he addressed the ongoing Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain.
The decision comes despite Uganda declaring itself Ebola-free after ending its latest outbreak in July. However, concern has mounted among health experts following two cases involving people who had recently passed through the country and later tested positive in Kenya and Nigeria.
Uganda says it is investigating the Nigerian case, which involves the wife of a Swiss diplomat. The 42-year-old woman returned from Uganda through Addis Ababa to Abuja on October 3, according to Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control, which said she is in isolation and has “improved remarkably.” The agency said 53 contacts had been traced.
Ugandan officials are reviewing genomic sequencing, travel information, interactions and movements in coordination with Nigerian authorities and international partners.
Swiss authorities had said the woman is believed to have contracted the virus in Uganda. Baryomunsi pushed back against that assertion, saying Switzerland was “speaking prematurely.” He said the woman’s relatives from West Nile visited her in Kansanga, a suburb of Kampala, and that those relatives had visited Congo.
“What evidence do they have that she never travelled there?” he said. “We should speak science, not politics.”
Kenya’s first Ebola patient had travelled from Congo to Uganda and taken a flight from Entebbe airport to Nairobi on October 3. The patient died two days later.
Both the Kenyan and Nigerian cases passed through the same Ugandan airport on the same day, but there was no physical interaction between the two, Diana Atwine, the health ministry’s permanent secretary, told the press conference, citing a review of the airport’s CCTV system.
Baryomunsi said all 60 contacts linked to the Kenyan Ebola case had completed their 21-day monitoring period and been discharged.
The minister said the ministry has intensified traveller screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings. All travellers intending to enter Uganda by air, land or water must complete a passenger locator form.
Genomic analysis of Nigeria’s only confirmed Ebola case showed the virus was closely related to the strain detected in Kenya’s index case, though Nigerian authorities said there was no evidence that the Kenya case travelled to Nigeria or had a direct connection.
Uganda borders Congo, where the outbreak began, and has previously battled multiple Ebola outbreaks.
Late on Sunday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a nurse was killed and a health worker severely injured when they were attacked while responding to an Ebola alert in the northern Congolese town of Bafwasende.
“Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety,” he wrote on X, saying the attack occurred on Saturday.