Ebola: Uganda imposes 21-day quarantine on travelers from DRC, Nigeria monitors 53 contacts

The Ugandan Ministry of Health announced on October 25, 2026, that any Ugandan returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo must observe a twenty-one-day quarantine and pay for it themselves. Controls have been reinforced at Entebbe International Airport, at all land border crossings, and at designated roadside checkpoints, reports Africanews. The Mpondwe post, which opens onto the Congolese Ituri province, is on the front line.

The decision comes as the seventeenth Ebola epidemic declared in the DRC in May 2026 shows no signs of receding. As of October 23, 2026, the country had recorded more than 9,700 confirmed cases and 4,690 deaths, according to Agence Ecofin, with Ituri, North Kivu, and Haut-Uélé being the most affected provinces.

A strain without a vaccine

The virus involved belongs to the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is neither an approved vaccine nor treatment. The Ervebo vaccine, effective against the Zaire strain, is being administered as part of a research protocol, but its effectiveness against Bundibugyo has not been established; other candidates are in the preclinical stage or at the beginning of trials, indicates Agence Ecofin.

The Director-General of Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, sees this as the result of a lack of interest: if this strain had struck Western countries, "vaccines would already be available," according to remarks reported on October 22, 2026, by the Nigerian daily The Sun and picked up by Agence Ecofin. The continental agency says it is working with an African manufacturer based in Egypt and is calling for emergency funding.

Nigeria and Kenya under surveillance

In Abuja, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Jide Idris, indicated on October 25, 2026, that 53 primary contacts of the confirmed case in the Federal Capital Territory were being monitored, with none showing symptoms at this stage. This is the first Nigerian case since 2014, confirmed on October 20, 2026, in a patient who arrived on a flight from Uganda. Kampala disputes that the contamination occurred on its territory: Uganda has twenty cases and two deaths, and the WHO had declared it Ebola-free in August 2026.

Kenya recorded nine confirmed cases in a single household in Nairobi and a first death as of October 23, 2026, according to Agence Ecofin; Africanews reported a second death on October 25, 2026.

African health ministers are meeting virtually on October 28, 2026, to coordinate the response. Africa CDC is highlighting three priorities: producing vaccines on the continent, better coordinating international aid, and financing the response through national funds. The epidemic raises more than just a health question: it asks how long a continent must wait for a vaccine that no one, elsewhere, deemed urgent to manufacture.