On Tuesday Uganda's health minister announced the country is now Ebola-free after handling the East African nation's latest outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic disease, which infected 20 people and claimed two lives.

Uganda has endured repeated Ebola outbreaks since its first epidemic in 2000, and officials credit years of gained experience for quickly bringing recent infections under control with little community spread.

Fifteen of the latest cases, declared in mid-May, were contracted in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, the center of the epidemic where confirmed infections now exceed 3,000.

The last Ebola patient in Uganda, a Congolese national, was discharged on June 22, before the 42-day monitoring period required by the World Health Organization to declare an outbreak over.

Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi stated the announcement follows the "successful completion of the mandatory 42-day monitoring period which began after the discharge of the last Ugandan national, a locally transmitted patient, on the 16 of June, 2026."

Of the 20 confirmed cases, 18 patients were discharged while two died, both from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

No new Ebola cases detected despite intense surveillance, Health Ministry says

"Throughout this period, the Ministry of Health maintained intensive surveillance nationwide, and no new Ebola cases have been detected," Baryomunsi said.

Officials note that Uganda's many tropical forests, which host fruit bats as natural reservoirs for the virus, leave the country prone to frequent outbreaks.

The virus spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue; symptoms include headache, vomiting of blood, muscle pains, and bleeding.