Uganda has closed its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo after health authorities confirmed that the Ebola outbreak centred in North Kivu and Ituri provinces had spread to within 12 kilometres of Ugandan territory, according to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister issued late Saturday.
The closure halts all cross-border movement at the two official crossing points connecting DRC’s Beni region to Uganda’s Bundibugyo district — the same corridor through which the Bundibugyo strain of the virus was first identified in 2007. The Prime Minister’s office said the measure would remain in place until the World Health Organisation certifies the outbreak is contained.
Health officials in Kampala confirmed Saturday that Uganda has recorded 19 laboratory-confirmed cases of the Sudan Ebola virus — a strain with no approved vaccine — and two deaths. At least 340 people who crossed into Uganda before the closure are now under mandatory 21-day quarantine, monitored by surveillance teams from the Uganda Virus Research Institute.
The DRC case count has risen sharply over the past ten days, with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 452 confirmed and probable cases and 82 deaths as of Friday. Contact-tracing teams have lost track of an estimated 1,200 exposures, raising fears the true toll is significantly higher.
The WHO’s Regional Emergency Committee convened an emergency virtual session Saturday and approved an expanded $518 million emergency response plan — triple the initial appeal — to fund surge clinical capacity, community engagement teams, and cross-border coordination. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that without urgent action the outbreak could spread to all six East African nations within weeks.
Uganda’s Minister of Health, Dr Jane Aceng, told reporters in Kampala that the border closure was the only responsible course of action. “We have seen what happens when Ebola crosses borders unchecked,” she said. “Our health system is stretched. We cannot afford imported cases.” The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued an updated Level 3 travel advisory Friday, urging all non-essential travel to the DRC’s eastern provinces.
Kenya has taken additional precautions, with the Ministry of Health announcing Saturday that travellers arriving from Uganda will face enhanced screening at all international points of entry. Kenya has recorded zero confirmed Ebola cases but has faced protests — two people were shot dead during demonstrations in Nairobi on Thursday — over a planned US CDC-backed quarantine facility near the capital.
The Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, first identified during a 2007 outbreak in the same region now at the centre of the current crisis, has no commercially licensed vaccine. Two experimental vaccines — one developed by Johnson & Johnson and one by the University of Oxford — are in limited clinical use in the DRC but face significant distribution challenges in active conflict zones where the state has minimal reach.
The International Rescue Committee warned Saturday that the convergence of active armed conflict, population displacement, and a crumbling health infrastructure in eastern DRC had created the “perfect conditions for a catastrophic outbreak.” The IRC has called on the UN Security Council to press for humanitarian corridors to allow health workers access to affected communities.
Written by Sarah Mitchell, Chief Opinion Columnist
