Congo imposes 21-day quarantine as Ebola Bundibugyo spreads abroad

On June 25, Congo ordered anyone returning from affected areas to spend 21 days in quarantine before traveling abroad, in response to the outbreak’s first confirmed case in France and the risk that infected people can cross borders before symptoms appear.

The move targets Ebola Bundibugyo, a rare strain for which the World Health Organization says there is no vaccine or specific treatment. It is harder to catch early because many frontline tests are built around the better-known Ebola Zaire, allowing cases to slip through screening while travelers still look healthy.

Travelers leaving affected countries monitor themselves for 21 days. Insecurity, dense settlement, and heavy population and trade movement are complicating containment across airports, land crossings, and informal routes.

By June 24, the Democratic Republic of Congo had 1,118 confirmed cases and 291 confirmed deaths, with 408 people hospitalized in isolation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said. Ituri Province remained the hardest-hit area, followed by North Kivu and South Kivu. Uganda had reported 20 confirmed cases and two deaths, while France logged one confirmed case on June 24. On May 19, a U.S. citizen was medically evacuated to Germany for treatment in another imported case.

France assessed the wider public-health risk as low, but the case identified there involved a doctor who had returned from a humanitarian mission in Congo. On June 25, the CDC temporarily restricted U.S. entry for certain travelers recently in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan, while still allowing U.S. citizens and nationals to enter under enhanced screening.

The outbreak in Congo and Uganda was confirmed in May 2026, and 16 confirmed cases were among health and care workers in Congo as of June 6, the World Health Organization said. On June 5, WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention launched a continental response plan seeking $518 million.