Following the declaration of Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization, the Indian government has issued a travel advisory. Even though WHO has emphasized that the outbreak remains a regional threat and is not a global pandemic risk.
A few related cases have been documented in Kampala, Uganda, but the majority of cases are concentrated in the DRC's eastern conflict-affected provinces of Ituri, Nord-Kivu, and Sud-Kivu.
While, as per WHO, the worldwide pandemic risk is "low" because Ebola only transmits through direct, personal contact with human fluids, unlike airborne illnesses, despite the WHO's classification of this as a very high regional risk, prompting advisory warnings from the CDC and nations like India.
"In light of the reported outbreaks of Ebola Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 17 May, 2026, Under the International Health Regulations, 2005, determined to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)," read an advisory from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
WHO's IHR Emergency Committee has issued temporary recommendations on the epidemic of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), to strengthen disease surveillance at Points of Entry to "detect, assess, report and manage travellers with unexplained febrile illness arriving from areas with documented BDBV detection," while discouraging travel to areas with documented BDBV detection," the advisory further states.
The Indian government has now specifically asked its citizens to avoid travelling to Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.
"India has not reported any cases of Ebola disease caused by infection with the Bundibugyo virus strain. No vaccines or specific treatments have been approved to prevent or treat Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus. In view of the evolving situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other affected countries, and in line with WHO's recommendations, the Government of India advises all its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan," reads the government advisory.
Since Ebola was first identified in 1976, more than 15,400 individuals have died from the disease worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa has accounted for the great majority of these deaths; in West Africa, notably in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the pandemic from 2014 to 2016 claimed almost 11,300 lives as per WHO data.
Since mid-May 2026, a significant Ebola outbreak-caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain-has been getting worse
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