Uganda has officially ended its Ebola outbreak after completing 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have announced.
The milestone follows the discharge of Uganda’s last Ebola patient, an imported case, on July 16, 2026. The subsequent 42-day monitoring period passed without evidence of further transmission.
The 42-day period is the internationally recognised benchmark for declaring the end of Ebola transmission. It represents twice the upper limit of the virus’s incubation period and provides an additional safeguard against undetected chains of transmission.
“Uganda has demonstrated that with decisive action, Ebola outbreaks can be brought under control quickly,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He said preparedness, surveillance, effective case management and monitoring at points of entry were critical in containing the outbreak while allowing people and goods to continue moving.
Uganda declared the outbreak on May 15 after detecting Ebola cases caused by the Bundibugyo virus. The country recorded 20 confirmed cases, including 15 imported cases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and five locally acquired infections among contacts and health workers linked to the imported cases.
Eighteen patients recovered while two died. More than 800 contacts were identified and monitored during the response.
Uganda had earlier announced the interruption of local transmission on July 28 after completing 42 days without a locally acquired case. Surveillance and other control measures, however, continued following the discharge of the last imported patient to ensure that no further transmission occurred.
Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya described the declaration as an achievement for Uganda and a lesson for other African countries.
“Uganda has shown that Ebola can be stopped when leadership acts decisively, communities are trusted and public health systems reach people quickly,” Kaseya said.
He warned, however, that the end of transmission in Uganda does not remove the wider regional threat, particularly as Ebola cases continue to be reported in the DRC.
“We must now protect this achievement while accelerating the response in the DRC. We will only be secure when transmission is stopped everywhere,” he said.
The close relationship between Uganda and the DRC presents a continuing risk of imported infections. The two countries share extensive social and economic links, while cross-border movement and trade make it difficult to treat national borders as barriers to infectious diseases.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Mohamed Janabi said Uganda’s experience showed the value of sustained investment in preparedness rather than waiting for outbreaks to become large before responding.
“Ending an Ebola outbreak is an important milestone, but the lasting achievement is a stronger ability to protect people from future health threats,” Janabi said.
Uganda’s response included rapid case detection and laboratory confirmation, contact tracing, isolation and treatment of patients, infection prevention and control, community engagement and intensified surveillance in health facilities and at points of entry.
The two organisations have urged Uganda to maintain surveillance and testing capacity even after the formal end of the outbreak, given the continuing risk of imported cases from neighbouring countries.
They have also called for rapid investigation of alerts, strong infection prevention measures in health facilities and communities, continued public engagement and closer coordination between countries sharing borders.
WHO has advised countries against imposing broad travel or trade restrictions because of Ebola outbreaks. It does not recommend closing borders, suspending flights or refusing entry to travellers from affected countries.
Instead, countries are encouraged to maintain travel and trade while applying proportionate public-health measures capable of detecting cases early and strengthening preparedness.
The latest declaration therefore marks not simply the end of an outbreak, but the beginning of another test: whether Uganda can preserve the surveillance systems, public trust and institutional readiness that helped stop Ebola before it spread more widely.
Africa CDC and WHO said they will continue supporting Uganda and the DRC under a joint continental preparedness and response plan, with ending Ebola transmission in the DRC remaining a priority for protecting communities across the region.