Ebola: Africa CDC Chief Writes to U.S. to Lift Travel Restrictions to Uganda

Jean Kaseya, Director general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director-General Jean Kaseya has written to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging Washington to remove Uganda from its Ebola-related travel restrictions, arguing the country has successfully contained its outbreak and should no longer be subject to the measures.

Speaking at a conference in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday, Kaseya called on African governments to support his letter, saying it would demonstrate the continent’s solidarity with countries responding to the Ebola outbreak, whose epicentre remains in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“There is no reason for the U.S. to continue with this travel restriction,” Kaseya said.

He said Uganda’s progress in controlling the disease justified lifting the restrictions.

“It’s time today to lift the status (travel restrictions), and then we’ll continue to support DRC on the challenge they are facing,” he added.

Uganda discharged its last Ebola patient on July 16, triggering the World Health Organization’s mandatory 42-day countdown before the country can be declared Ebola-free if no new infections are detected.

Uganda has reported 20 Ebola cases during the current outbreak, compared with more than 2,400 confirmed cases in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kaseya’s appeal came as he warned that the outbreak in Congo was worsening rapidly.

In a statement posted on X later on Tuesday, he said the epidemic had claimed 900 lives within 65 days and infected more than 2,400 people.

“If we do not stop it today, this will become the worst outbreak the world has ever documented,” Kaseya said, calling for urgent mobilisation of resources to contain the virus.

The United States is currently restricting entry for travellers who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo and some travellers who have recently visited Uganda or South Sudan.

The restrictions were first introduced in May and tightened last week in response to the regional Ebola outbreak, heavily affecting Uganda’s tourism industry.