Uganda has discharged the last patient being treated for Ebola in the country, meaning it now has no active confirmed cases and can begin a 42-day countdown to being officially declared free of the virus. Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi called it "a moment of joy", though his ministry has urged people to remain vigilant. The milestone matters because it shows how early detection, prompt treatment and established outbreak protocols can bring a Bundibugyo-species Ebola outbreak under control, even as the disease continues to spread rapidly across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda's outbreak began in May, after a man who had travelled from DR Congo for treatment tested positive; the country went on to record 20 confirmed cases and two deaths. In DR Congo, the epicentre of the epidemic, there have been more than 2,000 confirmed infections and 796 deaths, with the WHO warning it is now the world's third-largest Ebola outbreak on record and spreading faster than any previous one, with 80% of new cases from previously unknown transmission chains. There is no vaccine or approved treatment for this Ebola strain, and the WHO says it has received only $45m of the $115m it has requested to fight the outbreak. The US has also tightened travel rules, now requiring citizens who have been in DR Congo to spend 21 days in a third country before returning home.