4,800 Dead in Congo as Uganda Orders 21-Day Self-Funded Quarantine for Returnees

More than 4,800 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo since May in the country's deadliest recorded Ebola outbreak, prompting neighboring Uganda to impose new controls on travelers. Uganda's health ministry said Sunday that Ugandans returning from Congo will serve 21 days of quarantine at their own cost, and that travelers who have visited Congo cannot transit through Uganda.

The measures follow the detection of two Ebola cases in travelers who passed through Uganda's Entebbe International Airport on the same day. One case was confirmed in Kenya and another in Nigeria. Uganda's health ministry said it has intensified screening at Entebbe, at all land border crossings and at designated road checkpoints. Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said only essential travelers from Congo will be admitted, subject to what he called intense public health measures.

Uganda has recorded no new cases on its own soil since the World Health Organization declared the country free of the disease in August. An earlier outbreak tied to Congo produced 20 cases and two deaths. The health ministry said Sunday that 60 people monitored after contact with the Kenyan patient have all been discharged.

Questions about transmission routes persist. Diana Atwine, the health ministry's permanent secretary, said CCTV footage showed no physical interaction between the two patients. The patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat who had traveled to Kampala for a holiday, according to Jean Kaseya, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The Kenyan patient traveled from Congo for business and died two days after reaching Nairobi; Kenya has since confirmed eight additional cases, and a second woman related to that businessman died over the weekend. Uganda and Nigeria are jointly tracing the diplomat's wife's movements, travel history and possible exposure routes.

Baryomunsi said transmission continues across the shared border and that communities on both sides remain linked through trade, travel and family ties. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment, though trials are under way.