Uganda imposes 21-day quarantine on citizens returning from DR Congo over Ebola fears

Ugandans returning from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, the health ministry has said, as the country tightens restrictions to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.

More than 4,800 people have died in DR Congo since May – the country’s deadliest outbreak of the disease – and it has since spread to several other countries.

Uganda’s restrictions follow questions after two people who had travelled through the country tested positive for Ebola in Kenya and Nigeria.

The health ministry on Sunday said the 60 people who were being monitored after coming into contact with the Kenyan Ebola patient had all been discharged.

Announcing the new measures on Sunday, the health ministry said travellers who had been to DR Congo would not be allowed to transit through Uganda.

It said returning Ugandans would “undergo 21 days of quarantine at their own cost”.

Uganda has also “intensified traveller screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings, supported by screening at designated road checkpoints”, it added.

Uganda’s Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC’s Newsday programme that only essential travellers from DR Congo would be allowed in but would be subjected to “intense public health measures”.

“All these are measures to ensure that we keep Uganda free of Ebola,” he said.

Since the two cases were reported in Kenya and Nigeria this month, Uganda has repeatedly stressed that no cases have been reported within its borders. Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases, and two people died shortly after the outbreak started in DR Congo, but the World Health Organisation declared the country free of the disease in August.

Concerns have, however, persisted after the two passengers tested positive after passing through Uganda’s Entebbe airport on the same day.

The patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat who had travelled to the Ugandan capital for a holiday, according to the head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, while the Kenyan had travelled from the DR Congo, where he had business interests.

Diana Atwine, the health ministry’s permanent secretary, said CCTV camera footage showed no physical interaction between the two patients.

The Kenyan businessman died two days after arriving in Nairobi, and the country has since confirmed eight other cases of Ebola. A second woman, related to the businessman, died over the weekend.

Ugandan officials had previously said the patient in Nigeria had travelled to eastern DR Congo, only transiting through Uganda. On Sunday, however, the health ministry said Uganda and Nigeria were both working to establish her movements, complete travel history and possible routes of exposure.

The Ugandan health minister said the recent cases meant the risk had not ended and further underscored the need to “remain vigilant”.

“We share a border with [DR Congo], where transmission continues, and our communities remain closely connected through trade, travel and family ties,” Baryomunsi said.

The disease spreads from one person to another by contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

The Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind this outbreak is relatively rare, and there is still no vaccine or specific treatment – though trials are under way.