May 27, 2026 / 7:23 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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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.According to numbers compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO, there were 121 confirmed Ebola cases in Congo and 17 confirmed deaths, with at least 1,077 additional suspected cases of the virus and 246 suspected deaths from the disease. In Uganda, there were seven confirmed cases, including one death from the virus, the CDC and WHO said.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.
