Uganda forces DRC returnees to quarantine at own cost

Ugandans returning from neighbouring DRC will be quarantined for 21 days, the Health Ministry has said, as the country tightens restrictions to contain the spread of Ebola virus, reports BBC News. More than 4 800 people have died in DRC since May – the country's deadliest outbreak of the disease– and has since spread to several other countries. Uganda's restrictions follow questions after two people who had travelled through the country tested positive for Ebola, in Kenya and Nigeria. The health ministry on Sunday said the 60 people who were being monitored after coming into contact with the Kenyan Ebola patient had all been discharged. Announcing the new measures, the Health Ministry said travellers who had been to DRC would not be allowed to transit through Uganda. It said returning Ugandans would ‘undergo 21 days of quarantine at their own cost’. Uganda has also ‘intensified traveller screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings, supported by screening at designated road checkpoints’, it added. Uganda's Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi sais that only essential travellers from DRC would be allowed in but would be subjected to ‘intense public health measures’.