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. 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.
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