Misleading: Does Uganda Have 263 Ebola Cases and 43 Deaths?
Claim:
A post shared by Al Jazeera Breaking News on X claimed that:
“The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have reported 263 confirmed Ebola cases and 43 deaths as of May 30, according to Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya.”
The wording led some social media users to question whether Uganda was experiencing hundreds of Ebola cases and dozens of deaths.
Findings:
The figures cited in the post appear to refer to the combined Ebola outbreak situation in both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda rather than Uganda alone.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of May 29, 2026, a total of 134 confirmed Ebola cases had been reported across both countries, including nine confirmed cases in Uganda and one confirmed death in Uganda.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reported that the outbreak is primarily concentrated in eastern DRC, while Uganda’s cases are linked to the broader cross-border outbreak.
Ugandan health authorities reported nine confirmed Ebola cases and one death as of late May 2026, far lower than the figures cited in the social media post.
At the same time, Africa CDC and other international reports have documented significantly larger outbreak figures across the wider DRC-Uganda outbreak zone, with the vast majority of cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The issue, therefore, is not that the Ebola outbreak is fabricated. Rather, the wording of the post combines regional outbreak statistics from DRC and Uganda without clearly separating the figures for each country, which may create the misleading impression that Uganda alone has recorded hundreds of confirmed cases and dozens of deaths.
Verdict:
Misleading:
The Ebola outbreak is real, and the figures referenced in the post are linked to regional outbreak data reported by Africa CDC. However, the post does not clearly distinguish between cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo and those recorded in Uganda.
Available public health data indicates that Uganda had reported nine confirmed Ebola cases and one death by the end of May 2026, while the overwhelming majority of cases were recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.