Uganda has said it has no confirmed active case of Ebola after a Nigerian woman who transited through Kampala in early October tested positive for the virus in Abuja.
Uganda’s Director General of Health Services, Prof. Charles Olaro, disclosed this in a statement issued by the Ministry of Health in Kampala on Tuesday night.
Olaro said the woman had travelled to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for business and passed through Uganda without showing any symptoms.
He stressed that her transit through Uganda did not establish that she contracted Ebola in the country, adding that the location where she was exposed to the virus remained under investigation.
“Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation,” the ministry said. 
The development followed confirmation by Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, of an Ebola case in the Federal Capital Territory.
Pate said the patient, a woman who arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, had been receiving treatment at a private hospital in the FCT for several days before laboratory tests confirmed the infection.
The minister said the patient had been isolated and placed under medical observation as health authorities intensified measures to contain the virus and prevent further transmission.
Health authorities have also commenced contact tracing involving 44 people who may have had contact with the patient.
Those being monitored include healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and other persons who may have come into contact with the woman during her journey or treatment, according to a public health alert issued to state ministries of health.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s Ministry of Health said Nigeria had yet to provide detailed information on the woman’s travel itinerary and clinical history.
The ministry said the information was necessary to guide further investigations and determine whether contact tracing would be required in Uganda.
“The Government of Nigeria is yet to provide detailed information on her travel itinerary and clinical history which will guide further investigations and any necessary contact tracing,” it said.
Despite maintaining that there is no confirmed active Ebola case in the country, Uganda said it was reviewing and strengthening public health measures at its points of entry following the development.
The ministry said provisions remained in place for limited humanitarian and diplomatic movements, while relevant government agencies would strengthen screening and other public health controls at the country’s entry points.
The Ebola virus disease is a severe and potentially fatal viral infection that can spread through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person.
