Mulago National Referral Hospital
Uganda's national referral hospital in Kampala, which treated the country's Ebola patients.
Mulago discharged Uganda's last Bundibugyo Ebola patient on 16 July 2026, starting the 42-day count that ended on 26 August when WHO declared Uganda's outbreak over at 20 cases and two deaths.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Uganda's Ebola outbreak just ended at Mulago; will the 42-day clock hold?
Timeline for Mulago National Referral Hospital
Discharged Uganda's last Ebola patient on 16 July
Pandemics and Biosecurity: WHO calls Uganda's Ebola outbreak overDischarged the outbreak's last patient after two negative tests
Pandemics and Biosecurity: Uganda discharges its last Ebola patient, starts 42-day clockBackground
Mulago National Referral Hospital is Uganda's largest public hospital and its main referral and isolation centre for serious outbreaks. It stands on Mulago Hill, north-east of central Kampala, and has around 1,600 beds across its Lower and Upper Mulago blocks. It is the teaching hospital for Makerere University's College of Health Sciences.
The hospital began as a clinic in 1913 and grew into the country's principal referral centre. In 2026 it treated every confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola patient in Uganda and released the last on 16 July.
Its isolation capacity remains Uganda's main buffer against renewed spread. DR Congo, across a long and porous border, was still recording hundreds of new Ebola cases a week when WHO declared Uganda's outbreak over on 26 August 2026. Uganda contained its 2022 Sudan ebolavirus outbreak with the same tools of isolation and contact tracing, without a licensed vaccine for that species either.
Mulago closed out Uganda's Ebola cluster
Mulago treated Uganda's confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola patients in 2026. On 16 July it discharged the last of them after two negative tests, closing a cluster of 20 cases and two deaths. Fifteen of the cases were imported from DR Congo and five were caught in Uganda.
That discharge started WHO's 42-day clock, twice Ebola's longest incubation period. Uganda's government declared itself Ebola-free on 28 July, but WHO waited for the full count and declared the outbreak over on 26 August. The hospital's record held: no new case appeared in the 42 days after its last patient went home.
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 4 October 2026. Editorial standards.