Uganda nears Ebola-free status as last patient leaves treatment

Uganda is set to discharge its last Ebola patient on Thursday, marking the start of a 42-day monitoring period required before the country can officially be declared free of the virus, according to Reuters.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health reported that a total of 20 Ebola cases have been recorded during the outbreak. Seventeen patients have recovered, two people have died, and one remaining patient is expected to be released from isolation. Five cases were locally transmitted, while 15 were imported.

Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja said that once the final patient is discharged, authorities will begin counting 42 consecutive days without any new infections. If no additional cases are detected during that period, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be able to formally declare the outbreak over.

Tomorrow morning, the last Ebola patient will be discharged from the isolation unit at Mulago Hospital.

When that happens, Uganda starts counting down.

If 42 days pass without a single new case, WHO guidelines stipulate that we will be declared Ebola free.

I have said it…

— Alan Kasujja (@kasujja) July 15, 2026

All confirmed cases have been linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. According to the WHO, the current outbreak is the third-largest on record involving this particular strain.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the WHO declared a public health emergency in May, authorities have confirmed 2,011 cases and 754 deaths.

By Jeyhun Aghazada