At least 600 contacts of the 15 confirmed Ebola Bundibugyo virus cases in Uganda have been placed on a no-fly list as part of efforts to contain the outbreak, the Ministry of Health has said.
The director of public health, Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, told journalists that details of all individuals under follow-up had been shared with agencies responsible for travel and border control to prevent further transmission of the disease.
On Tuesday, Uganda registered six new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of infections in the outbreak, first announced on May 15, 2026, to 15.
The majority of the confirmed cases are foreign nationals, in addition to health workers who attended to them.
By Tuesday, a total of 668 contacts had been identified and placed under follow-up. Some are being monitored in quarantine facilities, while others remain in self-isolation with close supervision from health authorities.
Kyabayinze said all contacts are monitored for 21 days, the maximum incubation period for Ebola, after which those who test negative are discharged and allowed to resume normal activities.
He added that some of the contacts linked to the country’s earliest confirmed cases had already completed the monitoring period and been released. In addition, two patients who had tested positive for the virus have since recovered and been discharged after testing negative.
Although the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has a fatality rate of up to 40 per cent, health experts say the outbreak remains under control, largely because authorities have been able to identify most contacts and quickly initiate supportive treatment for confirmed cases.
Prof Pontiano Kaleebu, the executive director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), said Uganda responded swiftly after establishing that the virus had been imported into the country.
He urged the public to remain calm, noting that health authorities know most of the contacts and that existing prevention and control measures are effective.
According to Kaleebu, access to accurate information remains one of the most important tools in preventing the spread of the disease. However, authorities say they continue to battle misinformation, including viral and unsubstantiated reports circulating on social media about school and hospital closures.
Kyabayinze urged the public to rely only on information issued through official government communication channels. Meanwhile, Dr Atek Kagirita, the deputy incident commander for public health emergencies, said there was a widespread misconception that the current outbreak originated in Uganda.
He explained that the outbreak began in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than 280 cases have so far been confirmed and 42 deaths recorded.
While the Bundibugyo strain was first identified in Uganda in 2007, Kagirita said genomic sequencing had established that the virus responsible for the current outbreak in Ituri Province has a distant genetic relationship with strains previously detected in Uganda.
He explained that although the virus bears the same name, the designation reflects scientific classification rather than a direct epidemiological link between the two outbreaks.
