Key facts
- WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Uganda to reconsider closing its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The border closure was implemented to limit the spread of an Ebola outbreak.
- Tedros stated that blanket travel restrictions are not effective.
- The WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
- The outbreak's epicenter is in Congo's Ituri province, with 515 confirmed cases there.
- Uganda has reported 19 confirmed Ebola cases, primarily individuals who entered from Congo.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called on Uganda to reconsider its decision to close its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in response to an Ebola outbreak. During a visit to an Ebola isolation unit in Kampala, Tedros praised Uganda's Ebola response as prompt and capable but expressed reservations about the effectiveness of broad travel restrictions.