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Ethiopia, 21 October 2026 - The Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya on Wednesday declared that the continent will not let the ongoing Ebola outbreak outrun its response, while praising Kenya and Nigeria for their swift and calm containment efforts.
Dr Kaseya also reiterated that the upcoming emergency meeting he called, scheduled for 28 October 2026, will bring African health ministers onboard to reinforce cross-border surveillance.
He emphasised that containment relies on early detection, meticulous contact tracing, and the protection of frontline health workers.
"This Ebola outbreak is no longer one country's fight. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains the epicentre, and every new case beyond its borders reminds us how fast this virus travels," he stated.
On Kenya and Nigeria responses, Dr Kaseya said both countries had demonstrated what early action looks like, with "cases found through contact tracing, governments in control, no panic."
He urged all member states of the African Union (AU) to be on high alert to be able to detect early, trace every contact and "protect the health workers who stand between this virus and our families".
"Next week, I am bringing together Africa's ministers of health to strengthen our cross-border response and the surveillance capacity of our hospitals, both public and private," he added.
Countries and public health bodies have intensified efforts to curb the spread of Ebola virus disease, with growing calls for urgent reporting of suspected cases and for screening across borders. Governments and health officials have also been urged to follow up on the contacts of any reported case.
Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed an Ebola case after a woman travelling from Uganda tested positive. Authorities in Abuja said they were tracing the 44 contacts the patient interacted with, to quarantine them and prevent community transmission.
Questions have been raised over the preparedness of Africa, and East Africa in particular, to contain the spread.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dr Kaseya invited African ministers of health to an extraordinary virtual meeting on 28 October 2026, to discuss ways of preventing and curbing the spread of the virus.
He said Ebola is now affecting three regions of Africa and that the situation demands urgent action and political leadership at the highest level.
“I have invited African Ministers of Health to an extraordinary virtual meeting on 28 October to strengthen our collective response,” he said in a post on X.
He said five months of intense effort had shown the determination of countries and health workers.
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“We must now accelerate our actions, reinforce coordination and mobilise the full strength of our continent,” he added.
Dr Kaseya said Africa has the expertise, institutions and capacity to defeat the outbreak. “We must act together, and we must act now,” he said.
The current outbreak was declared on 15 May 2026, and Africa CDC warned from the start of its regional dimension. It has heavily affected thousands of people in eastern parts of DRC.
Dr Kaseya praised Nigeria for tracing the 44 contacts and expressed confidence that, as it did when it defeated Ebola in 2014, the country has the experience and public health systems that are an asset to all of Africa.
“I commend Prof Muhammad Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, and the Government of Nigeria for their swift and decisive response,” he said.
He also said Kenya is showing the way, because every new case has come from a contact list already under follow-up.
Kenya has recorded nine cases so far, and the index patient has died. That patient had travelled from the DRC through Uganda by road before booking a flight to Nairobi. He died on 5 October 2026, and the government made the official announcement the following day.
“We will only defeat this outbreak with communities, village leaders and community workers at the heart of the response. Africa stands united against Ebola,” Dr Kaseya said.
Uganda, which declared itself Ebola-free in July 2026, says it remains safe. It argues that confirmed cases elsewhere in patients who had travelled through Uganda are not enough to make Kampala the epicentre of the current outbreak. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved drug or vaccine.
In Uganda's Masaka area, health experts are taking decisive action as they try to develop vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus. On 6 October 2026, Uganda launched a Phase I clinical trial, testing the ChAdOx BDBV vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus. The study is led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and MRC/UVRI Research Unit in partnership with Oxford University. The principal investigator is Prof Eugene Ruzagira.
Around 110 healthy adult volunteers will be enrolled and monitored for 12 months.