Uganda’s Health Ministry said the country’s response to the outbreak had been effective, with two deaths recorded among 19 confirmed cases since the alert was raised after cases emerged in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May.

“While we appreciate the need for vigilance, blanket restrictions undermine confidence in countries that report outbreaks openly, and are not commensurate with the actual risk,” Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at Uganda’s Health Ministry, said.

The restrictions were imposed by countries including the United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates on travelers from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring South Sudan.

Most of Uganda’s confirmed cases involved Congolese nationals who crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 676 cases have been reported and 136 deaths recorded since May 15.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Uganda’s response during a visit to the country, while the UN health agency warned that the outbreak in Congo was spreading to new areas.

The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a form for which there is currently no vaccine or specific treatment. The virus spreads through close contact with infected bodily fluids and has caused thousands of deaths across Africa over recent decades.

Health authorities reported 550 confirmed cases as of Sunday, including 101 deaths and 19 recoveries, according to the latest situation update released late Monday. The outbreak was officially declared on May 15.

The vast majority of infections have been recorded in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90 percent of confirmed cases. Additional cases have been identified in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, while the virus has also crossed into neighboring Uganda.

Officials believe the true number of infections may be higher because the outbreak was detected weeks after transmission had already begun. Response efforts have been further complicated by the absence of an approved vaccine or treatment for the strain responsible for the current outbreak.

The outbreak has been linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, for which no approved vaccine or therapeutic treatment currently exists. This differs from the Zaire strain, which was responsible for most of Congo’s previous Ebola outbreaks and for which vaccines and treatments have been developed.

Authorities said the sharp increase in confirmed infections partly reflects expanded diagnostic capacity, which has enabled laboratories to process a backlog of previously collected samples.

Health workers operating in affected areas continue to face significant obstacles. Medical teams have been attacked on multiple occasions by residents frustrated by the outbreak response, while persistent skepticism among some communities has complicated surveillance and containment efforts.

Security concerns remain a major challenge across eastern Congo, where numerous armed groups continue to operate. Ongoing violence has limited access to several affected communities and disrupted disease-monitoring activities.

The World Health Organization said Monday that insecurity is restricting access for response teams, hindering surveillance operations and increasing the risk that new chains of transmission could go undetected.

The agency said the attacks on health personnel underscore the difficulties of responding to a public health emergency in conflict-affected areas and highlighted the importance of cooperation with local leaders and communities.

Eastern Congo has experienced repeated outbreaks of Ebola over the past decade, but health officials warn that the combination of armed conflict, delayed detection and the lack of approved medical countermeasures for the Bundibugyo strain presents a particularly complex challenge for containment efforts.

practice of medically repatriating citizens exposed to or infected with dangerous infectious diseases abroad.The administration announced last week that it was establishing a quarantine facility in Kenya for U.S. citizens exposed to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak affecting eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Under the plan, Americans who develop symptoms would not be returned to the United States but instead transferred to a third country for treatment as Washington seeks to prevent Ebola cases from entering U.S. territory.

The health officials said the proposal raises “profound clinical, ethical, operational, and legal concerns,” warning that it could discourage healthcare workers and emergency responders from participating in outbreak-control missions in affected regions.They also expressed concern that resources would be diverted toward creating temporary quarantine, isolation and treatment infrastructure overseas rather than supporting efforts to contain the disease at its source.

According to the letter, such a shift could weaken already strained outbreak response operations and complicate international public health coordination.The administration’s plan has also generated opposition in Kenya, where concerns have been raised about the potential public health implications of hosting a quarantine center for foreign nationals exposed to Ebola.

A Kenyan court has temporarily suspended plans to establish the facility following a legal challenge arguing that the project could pose risks to public health. The ruling places the future of the proposed site in doubt as legal proceedings continue.The dispute highlights growing tensions between domestic disease-control priorities and international public health practices as governments seek to manage cross-border infectious disease threats while balancing political, logistical and medical considerations.

Speaking at the opening of the facility in Ituri province, Tedros said four patients would be discharged on Sunday, while another had left care two days earlier, highlighting signs of progress in combating the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare variant for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment currently exists.

“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” Tedros said.

The announcement follows confirmation by the WHO on Friday of the first documented recovery of a patient infected with the Bundibugyo virus during the current outbreak, a development health officials hope will encourage infected individuals to seek medical attention sooner.

According to the latest official figures released by the WHO, the outbreak has generated 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths in Congo. The disease has also crossed borders, with neighboring Uganda reporting nine confirmed cases and one death, according to the Ugandan Health Ministry.

Despite the opening of new facilities and the arrival of additional international assistance, humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, warned on Saturday that the virus continues to outpace containment efforts. The group called for expanded testing capacity, faster deployment of health personnel and uninterrupted access for medical supplies.

Health authorities have faced growing operational challenges as some local communities resist strict disease-control measures, particularly protocols governing the handling and burial of Ebola victims. Officials say at least three attacks have been carried out against health centers during the outbreak.

Tedros emphasized the importance of community cooperation, urging residents to seek treatment immediately after symptoms appear and to participate actively in containment efforts.

“If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover,” he said, adding that early intervention remains critical to improving survival rates.

Security concerns have further complicated the response. In Ituri, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group linked to Daesh, along with violence involving ethnic militias, have limited access to some affected communities and disrupted medical operations.

The outbreak has also been reported in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels control several strategic urban centers, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebel movement has reported two Ebola cases in areas under its control.

Congolese health officials sought to reassure residents that the outbreak can be contained. Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at the National Institute of Public Health, said symptomatic treatment was producing encouraging results and helping patients recover.

Medical staff at the new treatment center echoed that assessment. Davin Ambitapio, a physician involved in the response, said healthcare workers remained optimistic that coordinated efforts by national authorities and international partners would eventually bring the outbreak under control.

The Bundibugyo strain was first identified in Uganda in 2007 and is one of several known Ebola virus species capable of causing severe hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in humans.

India’s foreign ministry said the two sides agreed to delay the summit, originally scheduled for May 28-31, citing the “emerging public health situation” across parts of Africa. The ministry said fresh dates for the gathering would be announced later.

The decision comes after the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo posed a high regional risk, although the threat remained low globally.

The WHO said the virus had likely been circulating undetected for months before the outbreak was officially declared last week.

The latest outbreak, the 17th recorded in Congo, has already been linked to 139 suspected deaths from roughly 600 probable cases, according to health authorities. Ebola, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 15,000 people across Africa over the past five decades.

India said it stood ready to support Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention-led efforts aimed at containing the outbreak and strengthening public health response systems across the continent.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport issued a health advisory on Thursday for passengers arriving from Democratic Republic of Congo as well as neighboring Uganda and South Sudan, reflecting growing concern over cross-border transmission risks.

The India-Africa Forum Summit is one of New Delhi’s key diplomatic platforms for engagement with African nations, covering trade, development cooperation, infrastructure and strategic partnerships. The postponement marks a rare disruption to the high-level forum amid heightened global vigilance over infectious disease outbreaks.

The US State Department elevated the three countries to its highest advisory level, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” while also advising citizens to reconsider travel to neighboring Rwanda due to its proximity to affected regions.

The advisory followed new emergency measures announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including enhanced airport screening procedures for travelers arriving from outbreak-hit areas and temporary visa-related restrictions.

US health authorities said non-American passport holders who had traveled to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo or South Sudan within the previous 21 days would face restrictions on entry into the United States.

The CDC said the risk of Ebola spreading within the United States remained low but confirmed it was coordinating the evacuation of an American doctor infected with the virus in the DRC, along with six additional individuals undergoing medical monitoring.
German authorities said on Tuesday they were prepared to receive the infected US doctor for treatment.

The latest outbreak involves a strain of Ebola for which no approved vaccine or treatment has yet proven effective, according to health officials.

The CDC said it was expanding technical support for authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and working with international partners to strengthen surveillance and containment operations.

The US State Department said Washington was mobilizing approximately $13 million in emergency assistance to support the response.

Questions have also emerged regarding whether recent funding cuts to the United States Agency for International Development affected outbreak preparedness and monitoring capabilities in the region. US officials declined to directly address concerns about whether reductions in USAID resources had weakened health response infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump said he was concerned about the outbreak but described the situation as currently confined to Africa.

Ebola, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever first identified in 1976, has killed an estimated 15,000 people globally over the past five decades. Depending on the strain, fatality rates can reach as high as 90 percent.

Public health experts have long warned that fragile healthcare systems, regional instability and population displacement in parts of Central Africa complicate efforts to rapidly contain outbreaks.

The WHO said the outbreak did not yet meet the threshold for a pandemic emergency but warned that countries bordering Congo faced a heightened risk of further spread as infections expanded across eastern regions and new cases emerged in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

According to the agency, 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected infections had been reported as of Saturday in Congo’s Ituri province, particularly in the health zones of Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.

The Congolese health ministry had earlier confirmed that at least 80 people had died in the outbreak, which health officials believe may be significantly larger than currently documented because of high positivity rates in early testing and increasing numbers of suspected infections.

The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus disease, a rarer variant for which no approved vaccines or targeted therapeutics currently exist, unlike the more common Ebola-Zaire strain that has been the focus of previous immunization campaigns in Central Africa.

The WHO described the situation as “extraordinary,” warning that international transmission had already been documented.

In Kampala, two unrelated laboratory-confirmed Ebola cases, including one death, were identified on Friday and Saturday in travelers arriving from Congo, according to the agency. A confirmed case was also detected in Kinshasa involving a traveler returning from Ituri province.

The WHO urged governments to activate national emergency-response systems, intensify border screening and strengthen surveillance along internal transportation routes to contain further spread.
The agency also advised that confirmed Ebola patients and close contacts should avoid international travel except for medical evacuation purposes.

It recommended immediate isolation of confirmed cases, daily monitoring of contacts and restrictions on domestic travel for exposed individuals until 21 days after potential infection.

At the same time, the WHO cautioned governments against shutting borders or imposing sweeping trade restrictions, warning that such measures could push movement across unofficial crossings beyond the reach of health monitoring systems.

The outbreak poses an additional challenge for regional health systems already strained by conflict, population displacement and limited medical infrastructure in eastern Congo, where previous Ebola epidemics have repeatedly tested emergency response capacities.

The condition will now be known as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, or PMOS, according to findings published in The Lancet and presented Tuesday at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague.Researchers said the previous name, commonly shortened to PCOS, frequently misled both patients and clinicians by emphasizing ovarian cysts, which are not present in every case and are not the defining feature of the disorder.

Dr. Terhi Piltonen of the University of Oulu, lead author of the Lancet paper and a related research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, said the terminology had contributed to delayed diagnoses and fragmented medical care.

Researchers said the new name was intended to better reflect the disorder’s broad hormonal, reproductive and metabolic effects, including infertility, irregular menstruation, insulin resistance, obesity, cardiovascular complications, anxiety and depression.Women with the condition often exhibit elevated levels of immature ovarian follicles rather than actual cysts, researchers noted.

The renaming initiative was coordinated by several international research groups and the Androgen Excess and PCOS Society following a multi-year consultation process involving more than 14,000 survey responses from patients and healthcare professionals, two international workshops and contributions from 56 medical, academic and patient advocacy organizations.

Medical experts said the terminology shift could help standardize care and improve awareness among clinicians, particularly because many patients remain undiagnosed or receive treatment focused narrowly on reproductive symptoms instead of broader metabolic risks.

Although PMOS remains incurable, symptoms can be managed through medication, dietary changes and exercise, according to guidance from the Endocrine Society.

Researchers said implementation of the new terminology would begin immediately, with plans over the next three years to integrate PMOS into clinical guidelines, medical education, health systems and international disease classification standards.

Tedros said he would travel to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands to oversee the disembarkation of passengers, crew members and medical personnel from the Dutch-flagged cruise vessel MV Hondius, which is carrying around 150 people.“I arrived in Spain, where I will join senior government officials in a mission to Tenerife to oversee safe disembarkation,” Tedros said in a post on X.

Three passengers a Dutch couple and a German woman have died after contracting hantavirus during the voyage, while several others have fallen ill, according to health officials.The outbreak has drawn heightened international attention after authorities confirmed infections linked to the Andes virus strain, the only known hantavirus variant capable of transmitting between humans.

Most hantavirus infections are typically spread through contact with infected rodents or their droppings.Tedros said he had remained in direct contact with the ship’s captain, Jan Dobrogowski, and WHO physician Freddy Banza-Mutoka, who is on board the vessel.

“At this stage, there are no additional people on board showing symptoms of hantavirus,” Tedros said, adding that the World Health Organization continued to monitor the situation closely.

He also said the health risk to residents of the Canary Islands and the broader international public remained low.The MV Hondius is expected to dock in Tenerife on Sunday, where Spanish authorities have prepared surveillance and containment measures before arranging special flights to return passengers to their home countries.

Spain’s government said Tedros would meet Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid before traveling to the Canary Islands alongside Spain’s health and interior ministers.Spanish ministry officials said the WHO chief would join a command center in Tenerife responsible for coordinating health controls, interagency cooperation and emergency response protocols linked to the ship’s arrival.

The incident has intensified scrutiny over infectious disease preparedness aboard international cruise vessels, particularly involving pathogens with rare but potentially serious transmission characteristics.

In its Global Hepatitis Report 2026, the United Nations health agency said hepatitis B and C, which account for 95% of hepatitis-related deaths worldwide, caused 1.34 million deaths in 2024, while more than 1.8 million new infections were recorded during the year.

WHO estimated that 287 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B or C infections in 2024, despite the availability of vaccines and highly effective treatments.“Progress is too slow and uneven,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.“Many people remain undiagnosed and untreated due to stigma, weak health systems and inequitable access to care.

While we have the tools to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat, urgent scale-up of prevention, diagnosis and treatment is needed,” he said.Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by infectious viruses and other agents, often leading to severe complications including liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer.

Of the five main viral strains, hepatitis B and C are the deadliest and remain among the world’s leading infectious disease killers.The WHO said fewer than 5% of the 240 million people living with chronic hepatitis B in 2024 were receiving treatment. For hepatitis C, only 20% of infected people have been treated since 2015.

In Africa, which carries the heaviest burden of hepatitis B infections, only 17% of newborns received the recommended birth-dose vaccine in 2024, raising concerns about continued mother-to-child transmission.

Six countries China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam are among the top 10 globally for deaths linked to hepatitis B and C, the report said.“Every missed diagnosis and untreated infection due to chronic viral hepatitis represents a preventable death,” said Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO department overseeing hepatitis programs.

The agency said proven medical tools are already available. The hepatitis B vaccine protects more than 95% of recipients from both acute and chronic infection, while long-term antiviral treatment can help prevent severe liver disease in chronic cases.

For hepatitis C, short-course curative therapies lasting eight to 12 weeks can cure more than 95% of infections, WHO said.The agency pointed to United Kingdom, Egypt, Georgia and Rwanda as examples of countries demonstrating that hepatitis can be eliminated as a public health problem through sustained policy action and financing.

“Eliminating hepatitis is not a pipedream: it’s possible with sustained political commitment, backed by reliable domestic financing,” Tedros said.Since 2015, annual new hepatitis B infections have fallen by 32%, while hepatitis C-related deaths have declined by 12%, according to WHO data.