Uganda has tightened Ebola prevention measures, ordering a 21-day quarantine for citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as concerns grow over confirmed cases in Kenya and Nigeria involving people who recently travelled through the country.
Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced the measure on Sunday, amid renewed concern among health experts despite Uganda declaring an end to its latest Ebola outbreak in July.
Nigeria is investigating its confirmed case involving the 42-year-old wife of a Swiss diplomat, who travelled from Uganda through Addis Ababa to Abuja on Oct. 3, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The agency said the woman was in isolation and had improved remarkably, adding that 53 contacts had been traced.
Ugandan officials are reviewing genomic sequencing results, travel records, interactions and movements in collaboration with Nigerian authorities and international partners.
Swiss authorities had said the woman was believed to have contracted the virus in Uganda. However, Baryomunsi rejected the suggestion, saying Switzerland was “speaking prematurely”.
He said the woman’s relatives from Uganda’s West Nile region had visited her in Kansanga, a suburb of Kampala, and that the relatives had previously travelled to the DRC.
“What evidence do they have that she never travelled there?” he asked. “We should speak science, not politics.”
Kenya’s first Ebola patient had travelled from the DRC to Uganda before taking a flight from Entebbe International Airport to Nairobi on Oct. 3. The patient died two days later.
Uganda’s Health Ministry Permanent Secretary, Diana Atwine, said both the Kenyan and Nigerian patients had passed through Entebbe airport on the same day, but there was no physical interaction between them.
She said a review of the airport’s closed-circuit television footage supported the finding.
Baryomunsi said all 60 contacts linked to the Kenyan case had completed their 21-day monitoring period and been discharged.
“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,” he said.
Genomic analysis of Nigeria’s only confirmed Ebola case showed that the virus was closely related to the strain identified in Kenya’s first case. However, Nigerian authorities said there was no evidence that the Kenyan patient had travelled to Nigeria or had a direct connection with the Nigerian case.
Uganda shares a border with the DRC, where the outbreak began, and has previously experienced Ebola outbreaks.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that a nurse had been killed and a health worker severely injured in an attack while responding to an Ebola alert in the northern Congolese town of Bafwasende.
In a post on X, Tedros said the attack occurred on Saturday and stressed that health workers responding to the outbreak must be able to carry out their duties safely.
“Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety,” he wrote.
