Uganda Clears Final Ebola Patient, Setting Stage to Declare Country Virus-Free

Uganda discharged its final remaining Ebola
patient on Thursday, initiating a mandatory 42-day countdown to officially declare the country free of the virus, according to the nation’s health ministry.
Since mid-May, Uganda has confirmed a total of 20 cases of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. Fifteen of those cases involved infected individuals who traveled into Uganda from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which remains the epicenter of the regional outbreak.
While cases continue to rise in the DRC, Uganda has not registered a new infection since June 22. On Thursday, the DRC reported 62 new cases, bringing its official tally of confirmed infections to 2,073, though the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the actual figure could be twice as high.
“Today, Uganda has discharged the last Ebola patient, a Congolese national who has successfully recovered and (is) ready to be with his family,” Uganda’s health ministry announced on the social media platform X.
Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja confirmed the patient was released from an isolation unit at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala.
“Uganda starts counting down,” Kasujja wrote on X. “If 42 days pass without a single new case, WHO guidelines stipulate that we will be declared Ebola free.”

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