A person who recently returned to Austria from Uganda is isolating in hospital awaiting the results of further tests after the local health authority put out a statement
Workers in Democratic Republic of Congo where there is currenly an Ebola outbreak
A person who recently returned to Austria from Uganda has been hospitalised after showing symptoms of the Ebola virus.
Although an initial test came back negative, the patient remains under observation and a health alert has been put out by local officials pending further tests.
The person is currently in hospital under observation in the Urfahr-Umgebung district in Austria.
A press release from the Provincial Health Directorate states: “Yesterday, a person from the Urfahr-Umgebung district was admitted to the hospital for inpatient evaluation due to symptoms of illness.
“Since the person returned from Uganda on Monday—a country currently affected by the ongoing Ebola outbreak—they were isolated and treated in accordance with medical guidelines.”
While an initial blood sample showed no evidence of an Ebola infection, Austrian paper Kronen Zeitung reported, the preliminary finding must still be confirmed by a second sample.
In the meantime the affected person must remain isolated in hospital under observation, the health body said.
Contact tracing is underway, authorities said, with efforts ongoing to trace people that the individual may have come into contact with. Meanwhile the patient is due to be transferred via a specialised infectious disease transport to complete their quarantine in a clinic in Vienna.
On May 15, 2026, an Ebola disease outbreak was officially declared in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As of Monday more than 900 suspected cases of Ebola had been reported in the DRC, with at least 223 deaths but the real number of cases is probably far higher, experts have warned.
Across the border in Uganda, there are now seven reported cases of the disease.
News of the possible case in Austria comes amid heightened measures in Europe, with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) working with the aviation sector “to strengthen the safety of all passengers on board,” the body said on Wednesday.
“In order to gather first-hand information from the field, ECDC is working closely with partners to establish a larger presence via the EU Health Task Force to support DRC and Uganda,” the agency said.
“This will also enable the Centre to gather more detailed information on exit screening, which ECDC continues to emphasise is crucial to reduce risk by identifying travellers who are symptomatic. It will also allow ECDC to promptly update its risk assessment and recommendations for the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA).”
