WAS - East Africa Tourism Intelligence Brief (25 - 31 Aug 2026)

Weekly

Regional

02 September 2026

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

WHO formally confirmed Uganda's Ebola outbreak over on 26 August 2026, closing out the 42-day countdown flagged in last week's edition. Uganda's Ministry of Health publicly called on all countries with travel restrictions in place to lift them immediately. Rwanda continues to consolidate as the lead Gorilla Trekking destination, with the 21st Kwita Izina ceremony now just days away on 4 September in Kinigi.

All parks in Uganda and Rwanda remain fully operational, permits remain available, and Rwanda carries no Ebola-related restrictions. The strategic priority remains Rwanda-first routing. Three milestones to monitor next week: KLM's Entebbe resumption decision (suspension confirmed through 31 August, no resumption confirmed), the US CDC's 11 September ban expiry, and whether any further government follows Uganda's call to lift restrictions.

Stay up to date with our weekly reports, including our archived reports - East Africa Tourism Intelligence.

EBOLA WATCH - Ebola Watch Dashboard

!2026 Ebola - Confirmed Cases by Provinces and District

Figure 1: Map produced by CDC on 30 Aug 2026 ==End of OCR for page 1==

Case Statistics (WHO Daily Epidemiological Update - data as at 30 August 2026)

UGANDA

Confirmed cases: 20
Confirmed deaths: 2
Recoveries: 18
CFR (confirmed): 10%
Days since last confirmed case: 71 (last confirmed case: 21 June 2026)
National declaration: Outbreak declared over by Uganda MoH on 28 July 2026
WHO confirmation: Outbreak formally declared over by WHO on 26 August 2026, on completion of the 42-day countdown

WHO formally confirmed Uganda's outbreak is over on 26 August, at a joint press conference with Uganda's Ministry of Health, on completion of the mandatory 42-day monitoring period without a new case. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary at Uganda's Ministry of Health, used the announcement to directly call on all countries maintaining travel restrictions to lift them, stating Ugandans 'should be free to travel to any country' unless a government has other reasons to maintain restrictions. Uganda's own epidemiological position has not changed and remains clean; the country's declared risk is now exposure to reintroduction from the accelerating DRC outbreak across the border. Al Jazeera (26 August 2026)

DRC - Democratic Republic of the Congo

Confirmed cases: 6,100
Confirmed deaths: 2,950
Recoveries: 1,383

The DRC outbreak accelerated sharply again this week, reaching 6,100 confirmed cases and 2,950 deaths as at 30 August (WHO Daily Epi Update) - an increase of approximately 725 cases and 393 deaths in a single week, the steepest weekly jump of this entire outbreak. Uganda has announced it will open two additional Ebola treatment centres inside DRC territory, in Aru and Kasenyi (both Ituri province), taking the total Uganda-supported centres to four. Ugandan and Congolese officials met in Kampala this week to review a bilateral memorandum of understanding on cross-border health security, with WHO's Uganda representative noting the cross-border model could be expanded regionally. WHO Daily Epi Update (1 September 2026)

On 27 August, the DRC Minister of Public Health launched a vaccination campaign for frontline workers against Ebola virus disease using the ERVEBO vaccine in Kisangani. The campaign is primarily being implemented in the affected provinces of Tshopo, Bas-Uele and Haut-Uele. More than 16,000 doses of Ervebo arrived in DRC on 21 August, the first of 70,000 allocated for Kinshasa, as part of a Phase 3 clinical trial. Separately, the PARTNERS clinical trial for Bundibugyo virus treatments, which began enrolment on 2 July, has now enrolled over 250 confirmed cases across three facilities in Ituri province. ECDC (28 August 2026)

RWANDA

Confirmed Ebola cases: 0
Confirmed deaths: 0

Rwanda remains Ebola-free with zero confirmed cases throughout the entire outbreak period, unchanged this week. All national parks, Kigali International Airport and tourism infrastructure remain fully operational. Rwanda maintains its 30-day entry restriction for travellers with DRC travel history. Rwanda is not on any country-specific travel ban list and remains fully sellable for tourism. ==End of OCR for page 2==

OUTBREAK TOTAL (All Countries)

Total confirmed cases: 6,121
Total confirmed deaths: 2,952
Total recoveries: 1,402

United States. The CDC entry ban remains unchanged this week, running through 11 September 2026 for foreign nationals who have been in Uganda, DRC or South Sudan within the past 21 days. Separately, Uganda remains under the broader US State Department Level 4 'Do Not Travel' advisory in force since 17 May, which cites crime, terrorism and civil unrest alongside the Ebola outbreak. Uganda's Ministry of Health has explicitly and publicly called for this and all restrictions to be lifted following the WHO's 26 August confirmation, but no change to either the CDC ban or the Level 4 advisory has been announced. Fragomen (August 2026)

Canada. Contrary to the expiry anticipated in last week's edition, Canada extended its temporary border measures for a further 30 days on 28 August 2026, rather than allowing them to lapse. Measures now run through 28 September 2026 (23:59 EDT). Foreign nationals who have been in the DRC within the past 21 days remain prohibited from entering Canada or boarding a flight to Canada; travellers from Uganda or South Sudan may enter but face a 21-day mandatory quarantine. Rwanda remains unaffected and unrestricted. Government of Canada (28 August 2026)

UAE. Formal entry ban remains in force since 13:00, 6 June 2026, unchanged this week. Entry restricted for all travellers from Uganda, DRC and South Sudan. Entry permitted only for travellers who have spent more than 21 days outside the listed countries. Rwanda is NOT on the restricted list. Status remains under active review.

Bahrain and Jordan. 30-day entry bans for travellers from Uganda, DRC and South Sudan remain in force, unchanged this week.

EU and UK. No formal entry bans on Uganda or Rwanda. Enhanced screening at selected EU airports for Uganda returnees continues. ECDC continues to assess risk to EU/EEA residents as very low.

WHO position. WHO continues to oppose blanket travel restrictions, describing them as counterproductive and inconsistent with actual epidemiological risk. Following the 26 August confirmation, Uganda's own government has now added its voice directly and publicly to this position. Africa CDC continues to lobby Washington for Uganda-specific relief. No policy shift has resulted so far from any government.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Canada Extends Rather Than Lifts Border Measures - In a reversal of the expectation flagged in last week's brief, Canada extended its temporary Ebola-related border measures for a further 30 days on 28 August, now running through 28 September 2026, rather than allowing them to expire on 29 August as anticipated. Government of Canada (28 August 2026)

ERVEBO Vaccination Campaign Launched in DRC - On 27 August, DRC's Minister of Public Health launched a vaccination campaign for frontline workers using the ERVEBO vaccine in Kisangani, targeting the affected provinces of Tshopo, Bas-Uele and Haut-Uele. More than 16,000 doses arrived on 21 August, the first of 70,000 allocated for Kinshasa, as part of a Phase 3 clinical trial. The PARTNERS clinical trial for Bundibugyo virus treatments has now enrolled over 250 confirmed cases across three facilities in Ituri province. ECDC (28 August 2026) ==End of OCR for page 3==

KLM Suspension Through 31 August, No Resumption Confirmed - KLM has confirmed its Amsterdam-Entebbe cancellations extend up to and including 31 August 2026. No confirmation of resumption from 1 September has been issued; KLM's travel alerts page currently references 15 September for rebooking. This remains the key aviation milestone to track in next week's edition. KLM Travel Alerts (August 2026)

Rwanda's Kwita Izina Ceremony Days Away - The 21st Kwita Izina gorilla-naming ceremony takes place on 4 September in Kinigi, Musanze District, naming 22 baby mountain gorillas and bringing the cumulative total named since inception to 460. This is Rwanda's single biggest annual conservation tourism marketing moment and falls just days after this reporting window closes. Visit Rwanda (August 2026)

Uganda Seeks Place on East Africa's Coffee Tourism Trail - Uganda, having overtaken Ethiopia as Africa's top coffee exporter with $2.3 billion in recent export earnings, is positioning itself on East Africa's emerging coffee tourism trail. An event on 30 August in Mukono district explored opportunities to attract 1 million coffee tourists to a $2 billion opportunity. For WAS, this represents a potential product diversification angle combining wildlife safari with coffee farm experiences, particularly in Mount Elgon and the central region. TrendsNAfrica (27 Aug 2026)

FLIGHT AVAILABILITY AND ROUTING

Entebbe International Airport (EBB) - Uganda

Entebbe International Airport remains fully operational. KLM has confirmed its Amsterdam-Entebbe cancellations run up to and including 31 August 2026, due to Ebola-related crew quarantine mandates. No confirmation of resumption from 1 September has been issued; KLM's travel alerts page references 15 September for rebooking. Other major carriers continue to operate normally, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Turkish Airlines. Uganda Airlines' new Accra route (from 27 October) and Kigali route (from 18 November) remain on schedule with no change reported this week. KLM Travel Alerts (August 2026)

Kigali International Airport (KGL) - Rwanda

Kigali Access - SalamAir continues operating its twice-weekly Muscat-Kigali service (Tuesdays and Thursdays), uncha

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