Ugandan worker collects a rubber glove from the airing line during a visit by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the Mulago National Referral Hospital Isolation Unit, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo Virus, in Mulago suburb, of Kampala, Uganda, June 8, 2026. PHOTO | REUTERS
Nairobi. Uganda's health minister declared the country Ebola-free on Tuesday following the latest outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic disease, which infected 20 people and claimed two lives.
Uganda has experienced multiple Ebola outbreaks since recording its first epidemic in 2000. Health officials say the country has, over the years, developed expertise that has enabled it to contain recent outbreaks quickly, with limited community transmission.
Fifteen people in the latest outbreak, declared in mid-May, were infected in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the epidemic, where the number of confirmed cases now stands at more than 3,000.
The last Ebola patient in Uganda, a Congolese national, was discharged on June 22. That is short of the 42-day waiting period required by the World Health Organization before an outbreak can be declared over.
However, Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said the declaration followed the "successful completion of the mandatory 42-day monitoring period, which began after the discharge of the last Ugandan national, a locally transmitted patient, on June 16, 2026."
Of the 20 confirmed cases during the outbreak, 18 patients were discharged, while two died from the virus, both of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Throughout this period, the Ministry of Health maintained intensive surveillance nationwide and no new Ebola cases have been detected," Mr Baryomunsi said.
Officials say Uganda's many tropical forests, which are home to fruit bats – the natural reservoir of the virus – make the country vulnerable to frequent outbreaks.
The virus is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids or tissues. Symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pain and bleeding.
