A health alert has been issued in Austria after a person who recently returned from Uganda was hospitalised with symptoms of the Ebola virus. The patient, currently under observation in the Urfahr-Umgebung district, tested negative in an initial blood sample, but authorities are awaiting confirmation from a second test.
The Provincial Health Directorate stated that the individual, who returned from Uganda on Monday, was isolated and treated according to medical guidelines. Uganda is currently affected by an ongoing Ebola outbreak that was officially declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on May 15, 2026.
Contact tracing is underway, and the patient is set to be transferred to a specialised clinic in Vienna to complete quarantine. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is working with the aviation sector to strengthen passenger safety and has deployed a task force to support DRC and Uganda.
As of Monday, over 900 suspected Ebola cases have been reported in the DRC, with at least 223 deaths, while Uganda has seven confirmed cases. Experts warn the true number of cases may be significantly higher.
