- Nigeria said the patient recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda.
The Ugandan government has announced zero cases of Ebola disease as of October 20, 2026.
This is despite a case of the disease being confirmed in Nigeria, with the patient having been reported to have travelled from Uganda.
While confirming its first Ebola case, the Federal Government of Nigeria said the patient recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda.
According to the Ugandan government, the said patient had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, an epicentre of the virus, and transited through Uganda.
“Preliminary information indicates that she transited through Uganda in early October without symptoms and developed symptoms after arriving in Nigeria. Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation,” Uganda’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Tuesday.
As of October 20, the Ugandan health ministry insisted on zero active Ebola cases.
Uganda further stated that Nigeria was yet to provide them with detailed information on the patient’s travel itinerary and clinical history, which would guide further investigations and any necessary contact tracing.
However, the World Health Organization reports that Nigerian authorities “have identified 44 contacts, who are being monitored, as contact tracing and investigations continue.”
Nigeria’s case was the second one to have been reported from a traveller transiting through Uganda.
When Kenya announced its first Ebola case on October 6, 2026, the Ministry of Health said the patient who had been living in DRC for the past 7 years fell ill and was treated in several hospitals before travelling to Kampala by road.
MoH said the patient, who succumbed to the Bundibugyo strain of the disease, then boarded a Jambo Jet flight from Uganda and arrived in Nairobi on Saturday, October 3, 2026.
Then, Uganda Media Centre Executive Director Allan Kasujja said Uganda should be left out of the conversation regarding Kenya’s first Ebola patient.
“7 western media organisations have called me to ask how the Kenyan who died from Ebola was able to go through Uganda. 7!! Our beloved Kenyans have strict Ebola controls at JKIA. Shouldn’t you be asking how he got through those controls. Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” Kasujja wrote in a tweet on October 6.
According to WHO data, as of June 21, 2026, Uganda reported 21 confirmed and probable cases and 3 deaths from Ebola.
On the other hand, WHO data reveal over 9,455 confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC and more than 4,561 deaths in the ongoing 2026 outbreak.