AP News52%
Uganda closes its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare Ebola type are surging 20%
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA0%
5/27/2026, 1:53:42 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Unattributed Quote, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 30.8% saturation with 285 hits. Analysis detected 1,867 faulty-reasoning hits from 926 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.9% and a BS Rank of 20% (16,430 of 20,496 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 80.20% of the article peer group.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda on Wednesday ordered the closure of its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola are surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients.
The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has no approved medicines or vaccines.
Like Congo, Uganda has faced Ebola outbreaks in the past.
A local Ugandan task force made the decision on the border closure.
The Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who had crossed the border before the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.
The border closure was temporary, with “immediate effect,” Dr.
Diana Atwine of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told journalists.
Border crossings will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, humanitarian, cargo or security reasons, she added.
Anyone entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory isolation for 21 days.
Congo says over 100 cases have been confirmed
Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever.
The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids.
Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.
The number of suspected cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths.
Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.
On Wednesday, Congolese authorities said that the first person who recovered from the Bundibugyo virus has been released home from a treatment center in Rwampara, one of the towns in eastern Congo at the heart of the outbreak.
WHO has discouraged border closures with Congo while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion.
The U.N. health agency has declared this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Closures “push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease,” the agency said.
The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts.
Many people come and go in the course of a day to visit families or to trade.
Congolese health authorities are struggling to contain the outbreak, which WHO says is outpacing them.
The rare type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type.
Challenges also include the threat from armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.
WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a ceasefire in eastern Congo to allow safe access for responders and others, saying on social media that “attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”
Responders in Congo have said they are underprepared and under-protected for this outbreak, while conflict-traumatized residents, long wary of outsiders, have attacked a number of clinics and hurled stones and abuse at volunteers trying to make people aware of the virus and its risks.
Infected people or those have been in contact should not undertake international travel unless it’s a medical evacuation, WHO has said.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States.
Uganda is concerned about exposed health workers
Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including the first case of a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala, the country’s capital, on May 14.
While the Ebola case load is not spiking, the number of locals exposed to infection via health workers has been rising.
“They have families, and so the number has been increasing,” Atwine, the Ugandan health official, said of the health workers.
She also said she was dismayed to see some Ugandans forming crowds to celebrate Arsenal as British Premier League champions.
The team has a large following in Uganda.
Atwine urged people to be vigilant, avoid shaking hands and use sanitizer.
Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks.
Health experts say aid cuts last year by the U.S. and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo, in part because of the region’s unique problems.
Aid groups fighting this outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need, including face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits and body bags needed to safely bury victims.
___
Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.
For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation.
The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting.
Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business.
More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.
Speakers
5speakers36%attributed speech593writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
39 attributed words12% of attributed speech92% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.