Uganda released its final confirmed Ebola patient from hospital on July 17, 2026, starting a 42-day countdown toward an official end-of-outbreak declaration, The Guardian reported.
The patient, a Congolese national, was discharged from the isolation centre at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala. The World Health Organization requires 42 consecutive days without a new infection before a country can be declared Ebola-free. That clock runs only if no further cases emerge.
Ugandan health authorities have begun lobbying other countries to lift Ebola-related travel restrictions. BBC News reported that most recent cases in Uganda involved travellers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Uganda and where case numbers continue to rise.
The discharge was described by one source as a "Moment of joy."