ACCRA, Ghana — The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has called on the United States to immediately lift Ebola-related travel restrictions on Uganda, arguing that the country has gone nearly a month without reporting a new infection.

Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya said on Tuesday that he had written to US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. requesting the removal of the restrictions.

“There is no reason for the US to continue with this travel restriction,” Kaseya told a public health conference in Accra, Ghana.

He also urged African governments to support the appeal as a demonstration of continental solidarity with countries affected by the Ebola outbreak, whose epicentre remains in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda discharged its last Ebola patient from the Mulago Isolation Unit on July 16, officially triggering a 42-day countdown. Under World Health Organization guidelines, the country can be declared Ebola-free if no new infections are recorded during that period.

Uganda has so far reported 20 Ebola cases, compared with more than 2,400 cases in neighbouring DR Congo.

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Kaseya said the restrictions on Uganda should be lifted while regional and international efforts remain focused on helping DR Congo contain the outbreak.

“It is time today to lift the status, and then we will continue to support DRC on the challenge they are facing,” he said.

The United States currently restricts entry for travellers who have recently been in DR Congo, as well as some travellers arriving from Uganda and South Sudan.

Washington introduced the entry measures in May and tightened them last week despite Uganda’s progress in controlling the outbreak.

Ugandan authorities have maintained that surveillance, contact tracing and preparedness measures remain in place as the country completes the mandatory 42-day observation period.