Uganda imposes 21-day quarantine on citizens returning from DR Congo
Uganda will also not allow most travellers who have been in DR Congo to transit through the country.
Uganda has imposed a 21-day quarantine on citizens returning from DR Congo, with Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi saying the steps are intended to keep the country free of Ebola.
Ugandans coming back from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, the health ministry said, as the country tightens restrictions to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.
More than 4,500 people have died in DR Congo since May - the deadliest outbreak of the disease there - and it has since spread to several other countries.
Uganda’s restrictions come after questions were raised when two people who had travelled through the country tested positive for Ebola, in Kenya and Nigeria.
On Sunday, the health ministry said the 60 people who had been under monitoring after contact with the Kenyan Ebola patient had all been discharged.
Announcing the new measures on Sunday, the health ministry said travellers who had been in DR Congo would not be permitted to transit through Uganda.
It said returning Ugandans would "undergo 21 days of quarantine at their own cost".
Uganda has also "intensified traveller screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings, supported by screening at designated road checkpoints", it added.
Uganda’s Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC’s Newsday programme that only essential travellers from DR Congo would be allowed in, but they would face "intense public health measures".
"All these are measures to ensure that we keep Uganda free of Ebola," he said.
Since the two cases were reported in Kenya and Nigeria this month, Uganda has repeatedly said no cases have been reported inside its borders. Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases and two deaths shortly after the outbreak began in DR Congo, but the World Health Organization declared the country free of the disease in August.
However, concern has continued after the two passengers tested positive after passing through Uganda’s Entebbe airport on the same day.
According to the head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Jean Kaseya, the patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat who had travelled to the Ugandan capital for a holiday, while the Kenyan had travelled from DR Congo, where he had business interests.
Diana Atwine, the health ministry’s permanent secretary, said CCTV camera footage showed no physical contact between the two patients.
The Kenyan businessman died two days after arriving in Nairobi, and the country has since confirmed eight other Ebola cases. A second woman, related to the businessman, died over the weekend.
Ugandan officials had earlier said the patient in Nigeria had travelled to eastern DR Congo, only transiting through Uganda. On Sunday, however, the health ministry said Uganda and Nigeria were both working to establish her movements, full travel history and possible routes of exposure.
The Ugandan health minister said the recent cases showed the risk had not ended and further highlighted the need to "remain vigilant".
"We share a border with [DR Congo], where transmission continues, and our communities remain closely connected through trade, travel and family ties," Baryomunsi said.
The disease spreads from one person to another through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.
The Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind this outbreak is relatively rare, and there is still no vaccine or specific treatment - though trials are under way.