KAMPALA, UGANDA – In an unprecedented move that contradicts global public health recommendations, Ugandan health officials announced an immediate full closure of the country’s long border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday, as cases of a rare, untreatable strain of Ebola skyrocket in Congo and potential exposure clusters emerge within Uganda itself.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola at the center of this outbreak has no clinically approved vaccines or antiviral treatments available, a reality that has amplified alarm across East Africa even as both Uganda and Congo have years of prior experience managing past Ebola outbreaks. The closure order was issued by Uganda’s national Ebola response task force following a steady rise in the number of Ugandan healthcare workers exposed to the virus by infected Congolese patients who crossed the border before the outbreak was officially declared on May 15.
Dr. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Health, confirmed to reporters that only limited cross-border movement will be permitted for emergency purposes, including outbreak response deployments, essential cargo shipments, and security operations. Any individual allowed entry from Congo under these exceptions will be required to complete a 21-day mandatory isolation period, the full incubation window for the Ebola virus.
As of this week, Congolese health authorities report 101 confirmed cases of Ebola, with more than 3,000 at-risk contacts currently under monitoring. The total number of suspected cases across eastern Congo has climbed to nearly 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths linked to the current outbreak. Ebola, a severe hemorrhagic fever, spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected or deceased patients, with healthcare workers and family members caring for patients facing the highest risk of transmission. Public health experts universally identify proactive contact tracing and prompt isolation of exposed individuals as the most critical steps to halting community spread.
Last month, the World Health Organization categorized the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the global body’s highest alert level. Even while acknowledging that neighboring nations like Uganda face extremely high risk of imported cases, the WHO has explicitly advised against full border closures. The agency warns that official closures force cross-border movement to shift to unregulated informal footpaths and crossings, which lack any health screening or monitoring – a dynamic that ultimately increases the risk of unobserved disease spread.
Uganda and Congo share a hundreds-mile-long border crisscrossed by dozens of informal foot trails that are impossible to fully seal. Cross-border daily travel for family visits and small-scale trade is a longstanding norm for communities on both sides of the frontier.
Congo’s public health teams have struggled to get the outbreak under control since the Bundibugyo strain was confirmed months ago. Initial diagnostic delays slowed the response: early samples were tested for more common Ebola strains, pushing back confirmation of the outbreak by weeks. The WHO has acknowledged that the spread of the virus is currently outpacing response efforts.
Multiple structural and security challenges have complicated containment work in eastern Congo. The region is plagued by ongoing violence from active armed groups, hosts a large population of displaced people fleeing conflict, and lacks basic transportation and health infrastructure. This week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to social media to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region, emphasizing that attacks on health facilities make contact tracing and case management nearly impossible.
Local response teams have also reported being chronically underresourced: frontline workers lack adequate personal protective equipment like face shields and full-body hazmat suits, testing remains limited, and even basic supplies like body bags for safe burials of Ebola victims are in short supply. Many residents in the conflict-affected region have deep-seated distrust of outside authorities, and response volunteers and health clinics have faced repeated attacks, with locals throwing stones and harassing teams working to educate communities about Ebola risks.
In a related development, the U.S. Trump administration announced Wednesday that it would route any American citizens exposed to Ebola for treatment at a newly constructed isolation facility in Kenya, rather than repatriating them to the United States for care. That announcement came the same week Canada introduced its own entry measures, requiring mandatory self-isolation for all travelers arriving from Congo, Sudan, and Uganda over Ebola concerns.
To date, Uganda has recorded seven confirmed Ebola cases, with the first case – a 59-year-old Congolese man who crossed into Uganda – dying in the capital Kampala on May 14. While confirmed case counts have not yet spiked exponentially in Uganda, the number of Ugandan healthcare workers exposed to the virus through border crossing patients continues to climb. Atwine noted that each exposed worker has their own household contacts, driving a steady expansion of the at-risk population.
The health official also publicly criticized crowds of Ugandan soccer fans who gathered in large groups to celebrate Arsenal’s English Premier League title win, a reminder that pandemic fatigue and low public vigilance remain additional obstacles to containment. Atwine urged all Ugandans to remain alert, adopt basic preventive measures including avoiding handshakes, and regularly using hand sanitizer.
This is the 17th Ebola outbreak recorded in Congo. Global health experts warn that aid cuts to regional response programs implemented by the U.S. and other wealthy donor nations last year have severely undermined preparedness in eastern Congo, a region that has long been classified as high-risk for epidemic spread. Aid organizations currently on the ground fighting the outbreak confirm they are still lacking critical equipment to protect workers and safely manage cases.