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

Uganda will quarantine citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for 21 days. Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced the measure on Sunday, 25 October 2026, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.

The measure is part of a tightening of Ebola precautions. Uganda says it remains Ebola-free.

According to Al Jazeera, Baryomunsi spoke at a news conference in Kampala. The Ministry of Health said returning Ugandans with a history of travel to the DRC will have to pay for their quarantine. Officials have also strengthened checks at Entebbe International Airport and at land crossings. All incoming travellers must complete forms recording how they can be contacted.

The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not state when the quarantine takes effect, where it will be carried out, what it will cost or how it will be enforced. They also do not say whether similar measures apply to non-citizens arriving from the DRC.

Regional context

Uganda declared its own Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak over on 28 July. The Health Ministry said that outbreak caused 20 infections and two deaths, according to Al Jazeera.

In the DRC, where the current outbreak began in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) had recorded 9,704 cases and 4,687 deaths by 20 October, Al Jazeera reported. Ebola has reached eight Congolese provinces. It is the DRC's largest recorded outbreak of the virus. The Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. According to the WHO, symptoms can take up to 21 days to appear.

According to Al Jazeera, a Kenyan man travelled from the DRC through Uganda, flew to Nairobi on 3 October and died two days later. Kenya has since reported a second Ebola death. Baryomunsi said 60 people traced in Uganda after possible contact with the Kenyan patient completed 21 days of monitoring and were discharged.

Nigeria confirmed on 20 October that a Ugandan-born woman married to a Swiss diplomat had Ebola, after she travelled to Abuja. She and the Kenyan man passed through Entebbe airport on the same day. Nigerian and Ugandan officials are investigating her movements.

What is disputed

According to Al Jazeera, Swiss authorities said the woman contracted Ebola during a visit to Uganda in September. Baryomunsi challenged that conclusion. The reports do not describe the evidence behind the Swiss conclusion, and do not identify where she was infected.

What each side says

• Ugandan government: Uganda has had no active infections since ending its outbreak in July.
• Baryomunsi: Relatives who had previously visited the DRC met the woman in a Kampala suburb. He questioned whether that route of exposure had been ruled out. Al Jazeera quoted him as saying: "We should speak science, not politics."
• WHO: On Thursday, it said the information it had received did not show the woman herself had travelled to the DRC.
• Ugandan officials: Security footage showed no physical interaction between the Kenyan man and the woman at Entebbe.
• Nigerian authorities: Genetic testing found closely related viruses in the two cases, but no direct link has been established.

In its 23 October update, the WHO urged stronger monitoring and cross-border cooperation. It advised against restrictions on travel or trade with affected countries.

Analysis

Uganda's quarantine sits alongside WHO advice that urges stronger monitoring but discourages travel and trade restrictions. How the measure is applied may shape how it is viewed, both by Ugandan travellers asked to pay for it and by regional partners. The unresolved question of where the woman diagnosed in Nigeria was infected carries public-health weight: it bears on whether undetected transmission may have occurred in Uganda. Further findings from the Nigerian, Ugandan and Swiss investigations, or from genetic analysis, could clarify the picture. Until then, the competing accounts remain open, and neither can be treated as established.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.