Uganda Is Ebola-Free — But Next Door, the Outbreak Is Getting Worse
The World Health Organization declared Uganda free of Ebola on August 26, 2026, at a news conference in the capital, Kampala. This means the WHO is confident the virus is no longer spreading in Uganda. The country went through a required 42-day waiting period with no new cases before getting the official all-clear. In total, Uganda had 20 confirmed infections and two deaths during this outbreak. The last confirmed case was recorded on June 21. Al Jazeera
Ebola is a serious and often deadly disease caused by a virus. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of someone who is sick with it. Outbreaks can grow quickly, which is why health organizations watch them so closely.
Uganda's own Health Ministry had actually declared the outbreak over a month earlier, on July 28, 2026, after the last patient was discharged from a hospital on July 16. So why did the WHO wait longer? The agency has a rule: it waits 42 days after the last confirmed case before giving the international all-clear. Think of it as a safety buffer — the 42 days covers two full incubation periods, meaning the time it could take for someone who caught the virus to start showing symptoms. If no new cases appear in that window, health officials can be confident the virus has stopped spreading. Diana Atwine, a senior official at Uganda's Health Ministry, said the WHO "had to wait because that was the process and guideline," even though Uganda already knew it was free. She also called on countries that had placed travel restrictions on Uganda during the outbreak to lift them.
The outbreak in Uganda began on May 15, 2026, after two cases were confirmed that had crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The WHO Director-General reviewed the situation on May 16, and the DRC's outbreak was formally declared on May 17. By June 15, Uganda had 19 confirmed cases and one probable case, all linked to the Congolese epidemic. The virus behind this outbreak is called the Bundibugyo virus species. WHO AFRO
The DRC is where the real crisis is. As of August 25, 2026, the country had 5,656 confirmed cases and 2,715 deaths, with 72 new cases reported in just one day. The outbreak is concentrated in Ituri province, in the northeast, where more than 4,700 people have been infected. Uganda shares an 877-kilometre (500-mile) border with that region, which is why the virus was able to cross into Uganda in the first place. Al Jazeera
A WHO report (number 2026-DON614) counted 3,605 confirmed cases and 1,587 deaths across the region as of July 30, 2026. By August 12, that number had climbed to 4,686 confirmed cases, including 20 in Uganda and one case that was carried to France, with 2,186 deaths overall. The DRC accounted for 4,665 of those cases. As of August 25, the numbers were still going up. WHO
Now that Uganda is cleared, attention has shifted to stopping the virus from crossing borders again. On August 25, officials from Uganda and the DRC met in Kampala to discuss a shared agreement on health security. Uganda said it would open two more Ebola treatment centres inside the DRC, bringing its total there to four. A WHO official confirmed that Uganda is already helping run treatment and lab services at two locations across the border, in towns called Aru and Kasenyi, both in Ituri province.
Kenneth Akiiri, a senior Ugandan health official, asked the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to send more resources for the regional response. Adelard Lufungula, who led the DRC delegation, said they need to move fast. "We want to fight Ebola like a war," he said.
The broader picture here is the huge gap between the two countries' situations. Uganda had 20 cases and two deaths. The DRC has had over 5,600 cases and 2,715 deaths. The Bundibugyo virus causing this outbreak is less studied than the better-known Zaire ebolavirus that drove the 2014-2016 West African epidemic. That means there are fewer tools — vaccines and treatments — available for this strain, though the exact status of those options is not detailed in the available information.
Uganda's decision to set up treatment centres inside the DRC, and to work on a formal cross-border agreement, suggests the government sees the Congolese outbreak as a direct threat to its own country, not just a problem for a neighbour. That makes sense given the long shared border and the fact that the virus already crossed it once. Whether the WHO and Africa CDC will send the help being requested, and whether it will arrive quickly enough to slow the DRC's outbreak, is the key question that remains unanswered.
For now, the two countries are on very different paths. Uganda has its international clearance and is looking outward. The DRC is still counting new cases every day.
