KAMPALA, Uganda — Authorities in Uganda declared the East Africa nation free of Ebola on Tuesday following the discharge of the country’s last patient in mid-June, a delicate milestone as the virus continues to plague neighboring Congo.
Uganda has maintained since the outset that its cases were linked to the larger outbreak in eastern Congo’s remote province of Ituri, which borders Uganda. The first cases in Uganda were Congolese who crossed the border to seek treatment for an unknown illness before it was known they had Ebola, health authorities have said.
After what health officials believe was weeks of transmission, Congo announced its outbreak on May 15, the same day that Uganda confirmed two Ebola cases - including a man who had already died.
While a total of 20 cases were reported in Uganda, health authorities say there is currently no indication of further spread within the country.
The last patient was released June 16, and Ugandan authorities have waited the World Health Organization-recommended 42 days – or two incubation cycles for Ebola – to declare the country free of the disease.
“Uganda’s 2026 Ebola outbreak arose from a fully documented importation event,” unlike previous outbreaks in the country, the Ugandan Health Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
It was now possible to declare Uganda free of Ebola after “all identified contacts were institutionally quarantined and completed the mandatory 21-day follow-up without evidence of further transmission,” the statement said. “Enhanced surveillance has detected no unexplained community transmission.”
The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment. The region’s outbreak has been declared a global health emergency.
Ugandan health authorities have experience in acting quickly to address Ebola outbreaks. After the confirmation of Ebola cases in Uganda in May, the president urged Ugandans to “ stop shaking hands,” and ordered the postponement of an annual religious event that attracts thousands of pilgrims - from Congo and elsewhere - who converge around a Catholic shrine just outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala, in June.
Other measures included the suspension of all public transportation and flights between Uganda and Congo, where the outbreak remains worrisome.
Confirmed cases in Congo have reached 3,262, its Health Ministry said in an overnight update. Data by Congolese health authorities showed that 1,437 patients have died, in what officials have said is the fastest Ebola outbreak on record.
The Ebola case number in Congo is likely to top the previous highest toll in the country in the next few days. That outbreak lasted two years, while this one is only 10 weeks in.
Only the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa, considered the worst in history, has a higher toll, with 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths.
The speed of transmission in the current outbreak comes amid concerns from residents that many communities in the affected provinces are either unreachable or have been abandoned by responders in recent days over safety concerns amid attacks from angry residents and rebels.
Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever.
A family of fruit bats is believed to be the natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of
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