Uganda has strengthened Ebola screening at its border crossings and at Entebbe International Airport after two people who later tested positive for the virus travelled through the country, according to Xinhua. The Ministry of Health has added temperature scanners at the airport, with attention on arrivals from or passing through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where close to 10,000 Ebola cases have been recorded since May.
The announcement came as Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health, made an unannounced visit to Entebbe on Wednesday to review how screening was working and to look for weak points. The airport was the transit point for the index cases later confirmed in Kenya and Nigeria this month.
Why it matters
Uganda's position as a regional travel hub means infections that begin elsewhere can pass through its airports and borders before anyone knows they exist. The two transit cases show that screening at departure and arrival points can miss infected travellers, and that a single undetected passenger can carry the virus into a country thousands of kilometres away.
The country is also trying to protect the gains of its own recent outbreak response. Uganda recorded an Ebola outbreak in May, with 20 confirmed cases, 18 recoveries and two deaths, most of them imported from outside the country. The World Health Organization and the Africa CDC declared that outbreak over on Aug. 27 after Uganda completed the required period without a new confirmed case.
Scanners are not a guarantee
Atwine said temperature checks alone cannot be relied on to catch every infected traveller. Some patients may have a normal temperature, she noted, while others may take medication that hides a fever.
According to the ministry, Kenya's index case took paracetamol to bring down a fever and passed through thermal screening without being flagged. Nigeria's index case travelled from the DRC through Uganda without showing any symptoms.
Atwine said the ministry intended to set up special courts to prosecute travellers who know they have Ebola symptoms and hide them, putting others at risk. "We are going to invoke the Public Health Act," she said in a video the ministry shared during the airport inspection. "If you sneak into our country under those circumstances, we will get you and charge you."
In a statement on Tuesday after the Nigerian case was reported, the ministry said that although the patient had passed through Uganda, the country had no active Ebola cases. It asked the public to stay calm and watchful, to wash and sanitise their hands regularly, and to rely on its official channels for verified updates.
The border with the DRC remains shut, though the ministry said limited arrangements are still in place for humanitarian and diplomatic movement.
Coordination with Kasese and support inside the DRC
On Thursday, Allan Ssempebwa Kyobe, a senior communications officer at the Ministry of Health, said the ministry was working with officials in Kasese District, which borders the DRC, on Ebola preparedness and incident management. In a post on X, he said the talks were aimed at improving coordination, surveillance and readiness to protect communities from the virus.
Kyobe said Uganda also keeps a team of experts in eastern DRC to help contain the virus where it starts and to stop it crossing the border. Earlier this week, that team received the DRC's national incident manager, Steve Ahuka, along with officials from the WHO and the Africa CDC, who praised Uganda for its support.
Uganda is also working against misinformation and disinformation about Ebola, which the government says could damage the economy. The ministry has asked the public to get information about the disease only from its official channels.
Watch for whether the ministry names a date for the proposed prosecutions under the Public Health Act, and for further updates from Kasese as surveillance is stepped up along the DRC border.
