Uganda orders 21-day Ebola quarantine for citizens returning from DR Congo

Kampala says country is Ebola free, but Swiss authorities believe a woman diagnosed in Nigeria was infected in Uganda.

Uganda has ordered citizens returning after travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to quarantine for 21 days, as it steps up precautions against the Ebola virus.

Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced the measure on Sunday at a news conference in Kampala, as Ebola cases in Kenya and Nigeria raised fresh questions about travellers passing through Uganda.

The country says it has no active infections after ending its own outbreak in July. Returning Ugandans with a history of travel to DRC will have to pay for their quarantine, the Ministry of Health said.

Officials have also strengthened checks at Entebbe International Airport and land crossings, and require all incoming travellers to complete forms recording how they can be contacted.

Uganda declared its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak over on July 28. It had recorded 20 infections and two deaths, according to the Health Ministry.

Yet Swiss authorities have said a Ugandan-born woman married to a Swiss diplomat contracted Ebola during a visit to Uganda in September.

Nigeria confirmed her infection on October 20, after she had travelled to Abuja, its capital.

At Sunday’s briefing in Kampala, Baryomunsi challenged that conclusion. He said relatives who had previously visited DRC had met the woman in a Kampala suburb, and questioned whether that possible route of exposure had been ruled out.

“We should speak science, not politics,” he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations’ health agency, said on Thursday that the information it had received did not show that the woman herself had travelled to DRC.

Nigerian and Ugandan officials are investigating her movements and possible source of infection.

The inquiry has also turned to a Kenyan man who travelled from DRC through Uganda before flying to Nairobi on October 3. He died two days later, and Kenya has since reported a second Ebola death.

Both patients passed through Entebbe airport on the same day.

Ugandan officials said on Sunday that security footage showed no physical interaction between them.

Nigerian authorities said genetic testing found closely related viruses in the two cases, but no direct link had been established.

Baryomunsi said 60 people traced in Uganda after possible contact with the Kenyan patient had finished 21 days of monitoring and been discharged.

In neighbouring DRC, where the outbreak began in May, the WHO had recorded 9,704 cases and 4,687 deaths by October 20.

Ebola, which can cause haemorrhagic fever, has reached eight Congolese provinces, making this the country’s largest recorded outbreak of the virus. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people.

The strain responsible for the current outbreak, known as Bundibugyo, has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.

Symptoms can take up to 21 days to appear, according to the WHO. In its October 23 update, the WHO urged stronger monitoring and cooperation across borders, while advising against restrictions on travel or trade with affected countries.