Uganda has imposed a 21-day quarantine on citizens returning to the country with a history of travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the government tightens Ebola precautions despite maintaining that the country remains free of the virus. The measure was announced by Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi at a media briefing in Kampala on Sunday, 25 October 2026.
Uganda declared an end to its latest Ebola outbreak, involving the Bundibugyo strain, in July, but concern has grown among health experts after two people who had recently passed through the country later tested positive for Ebola in Kenya and Nigeria. The new quarantine applies to Ugandan citizens returning home with recent travel history in Congo, and forms part of a wider tightening of screening at Entebbe International Airport and at all land border crossings.
“Uganda remains Ebola-free, with no confirmed cases recorded since the country declared the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak over on July 28, 2026,” Baryomunsi 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 the passenger locator form.”
The cases that prompted the move
The two cases that prompted the new precautions both involved travellers who passed through Uganda in early October. Kenya’s first Ebola patient had travelled from Congo to Uganda and taken a flight from Entebbe airport to Nairobi on 3 October. The patient died two days later. Kenya has since confirmed a second fatal case, a 65-year-old woman who died in quarantine late last week.
The Nigerian case involves a 42-year-old woman, the wife of a Swiss diplomat, who returned from Uganda through Addis Ababa to Abuja on 3 October. According to Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control, she is in isolation and has improved remarkably, and 53 contacts have 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 was believed to have contracted the virus in Uganda. Baryomunsi pushed back against that assessment, saying Switzerland was “speaking prematurely.” He said the woman’s relatives from West Nile had 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.”
Uganda’s health ministry permanent secretary, Diana Atwine, told the briefing that both the Kenyan and the Nigerian cases had travelled through Entebbe airport on the same day, but that there had been no physical interaction between the two, citing a review of the airport’s CCTV system. Baryomunsi added that all 60 contacts linked to the Kenyan Ebola case had completed their 21-day monitoring period and been discharged without developing symptoms.
Screening stepped up across the country
Alongside the quarantine, Uganda has expanded its surveillance and cross-border medical support. Health authorities traced the 60 Kenyan-case contacts across key points of entry and exit, hotels and public transport networks tied to cross-border transit through Uganda. Surveillance in high-risk zones such as Kasese remains robust, Baryomunsi said, confirming that the border district has recorded no Ebola cases or deaths.
To help tackle the disease at its source, Uganda has expanded cross-border medical support into eastern Congo, establishing three treatment units in the country with a combined capacity of 240 beds. The move reflects the reality that Uganda’s own safety depends in part on containing the outbreak across the border, where the virus continues to circulate.
Experience with Ebola control
The 21-day period matches the maximum incubation period for Ebola, during which an infected person may develop symptoms. Quarantine and monitoring of contacts are standard tools in Ebola control, and Uganda has experience of deploying them: the country has dealt with repeated outbreaks over the years and has built up laboratory, surveillance and treatment capacity that health officials credit for its relatively rapid responses.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether any quarantined traveller develops symptoms, and whether genomic sequencing resolves the dispute over where the Nigerian case was infected. Ugandan officials are working with Nigerian authorities and international partners on that analysis, and its findings could shape both the public health response and the diplomatic discussion around the cases.
Neighbouring countries are also watching closely. Kenya’s second fatal case underlines that the regional threat has not passed, and health authorities across East Africa have stepped up screening at borders and airports. For Uganda, the challenge is to maintain its Ebola-free status while keeping trade and travel moving across a busy border with Congo, and to reassure the public that the precautions are proportionate rather than a sign of hidden transmission.
Officials have stressed that the quarantine is a precaution, not a response to confirmed cases inside Uganda. If no new cases emerge among returnees or their contacts, the measure may be eased, but for now the government is signalling that vigilance, rather than complacency, is its chosen course.
