Uganda sent home its last Ebola patient on Thursday, kicking off the official countdown to being declared free of the virus.
The patient, a Congolese national, was released from the isolation unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala after recovering, the health ministry announced on X.
With no new infections reported since June 22, Uganda now has to go 42 days without a case to meet WHO requirements for an Ebola-free declaration.
Since mid-May, Uganda has recorded 20 cases of the Bundibugyo strain. Fifteen of those were people who had traveled into Uganda from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak started.
The situation across the border looks very different. Congo reported 62 new cases on Thursday alone. That brings its confirmed total to 2,073, though the WHO says the real number is likely at least twice that.
Uganda’s health ministry said the discharge marks a turning point: “Today, Uganda has discharged the last Ebola patient… ready to be with his family.”
Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja also posted that the 42-day clock has started.
