Uganda Orders 21-Day Quarantine for Travelers From Congo

Uganda's government announced on Sunday that any citizen returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo must be quarantined for 21 days. Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi made the announcement as Uganda tried to stop the spread of Ebola. The move came after two people who had recently traveled through Uganda tested positive for Ebola — one in Kenya and one in Nigeria. Uganda says it has no active Ebola outbreak, but health officials are taking extra steps to make sure the disease does not return.

Uganda borders Congo, where the current Ebola outbreak began. The country has dealt with Ebola before, so leaders know how serious the disease can be. Officials have stepped up health screenings at Entebbe International Airport and at all land and water border crossings. All travelers entering Uganda must now fill out a passenger locator form, which helps health workers track where people have been.

The case in Kenya involved a traveler who came from Congo, passed through Uganda, and then flew from Entebbe airport to Nairobi on October 3. That patient died two days after arriving in Kenya. The Nigerian case involves the wife of a Swiss diplomat. She is 42 years old and returned from Uganda through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to the Nigerian city of Abuja on October 3. She is now in isolation and has reportedly improved a great deal.

Interestingly, both the Kenyan patient and the Nigerian woman passed through Entebbe airport on the same day. However, officials reviewed security camera footage from the airport and found no evidence that the two people ever met or were near each other. Health workers in Nigeria traced 53 people who may have come into contact with the Nigerian patient. All 60 contacts linked to the Kenyan case have finished their 21-day monitoring period and been cleared.

Swiss authorities said they believe the Nigerian woman caught the Ebola virus while she was in Uganda. But Minister Baryomunsi disagreed strongly. He said the woman's relatives from Uganda's West Nile region had visited her in Kansanga, a neighborhood in Uganda's capital, Kampala, and that those same relatives had also visited Congo. He said scientists should look at the evidence carefully before making claims, adding, 'We should speak science, not politics.'

Scientists studied the genetic makeup of the virus found in the Nigerian patient. They found it was closely related to the strain seen in the Kenyan case. However, Nigerian health officials said there was no proof that the Kenyan patient ever traveled to Nigeria or had any direct contact with the Nigerian woman.

On Sunday evening, a troubling report came from Congo. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a nurse was killed and another health worker was seriously hurt after they were attacked while responding to an Ebola alert in a northern Congolese town called Bafwasende. The attack happened on Saturday. Dr. Tedros wrote on the social media platform X that people working to protect communities from deadly diseases must be allowed to do their jobs safely and with dignity.