Uganda Orders 21-Day Quarantine for Citizens Coming Back From DR Congo as Ebola Fears Grow

Uganda has announced that its citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo must spend 21 days in quarantine, as the government moves to keep Ebola out of the country. The health ministry set out the measures on Sunday.

Under the new rules, returnees will be quarantined at their own cost. Travellers who have been in DR Congo will also be barred from transiting through Uganda. The ministry said it has stepped up screening at Entebbe International Airport and at all land border crossings, with extra checks at designated road checkpoints.

Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC's Newsday programme that only essential travellers from DR Congo would be admitted, and that they would face "intense public health measures". He said the steps were meant "to ensure that we keep Uganda free of Ebola".

The outbreak in DR Congo has killed more than 4,800 people since May, making it the country's deadliest outbreak of the disease. It has since spread to several other countries.

The tighter controls follow questions about two people who tested positive in Kenya and Nigeria after passing through Entebbe airport on the same day. Uganda has stressed this month that it has recorded no cases within its borders. It had 20 cases and two deaths early in the outbreak, but the World Health Organization declared it free of the disease in August.

According to Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat, who had travelled to Kampala for a holiday. The Kenyan patient was a businessman who had come from DR Congo, where he had business interests. Diana Atwine, the health ministry's permanent secretary, said CCTV footage showed no physical interaction between the two.

The Kenyan businessman died two days after arriving in Nairobi. Kenya has since confirmed eight other cases, and a second woman, a relative of the businessman, died over the weekend. The health ministry said the 60 people monitored after contact with the Kenyan patient in Uganda have all been discharged.

Ugandan officials had earlier said the woman in Nigeria went to eastern DR Congo and only transited through Uganda. On Sunday, however, the ministry said Uganda and Nigeria are working together to establish her movements, full travel history and possible routes of exposure.

Baryomunsi said the recent cases show the risk has not passed and that the country must "remain vigilant". He noted that Uganda shares a border with DR Congo, where transmission continues, and that communities are closely linked through trade, travel and family ties.

Ebola spreads between people through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit. The Bundibugyo species behind this outbreak is relatively rare, and there is still no vaccine or specific treatment, although trials are under way.