(Posted 20th May 2026)
The annual Martyrs Day celebrations, scheduled for the 03rd of June, have been postponed indefinitely following the spread of the Congo DR Ebola outbreak into Uganda.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni directed the postponement and the annual pilgrimages by thousands of Catholic faithful to the Martyrs shrine in Namugongo, outside Kampala, have been terminated.
It is understood that the day itself will still remain a public holiday but gatherings and group visits to the two shrines – a second shrine is located near Munyonyo – will not be allowed.
Past festivities to celebrate Martyrs Day have regularly brought over 2 million faithful together, cramming into the Namugongo venue and gathering nearby when the venue itself was reaching capacity.
This measure is somewhat in stark contrast however to a statement released by Uganda Tourism, which, fearing the outbreak could impact their Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo due to open tomorrow, 21st of May and running until the 23rd of May has spoken with another voice.
Local and international media are continuing to monitor the situation surrounding the current outbreak, as in particular in Congo DR case numbers and casualties continue to rise sharply.
Several US citizens, among them a medical doctor, were meanwhile evacuated by air to Germany and have been admitted to the Charite Hospital in Berlin / Germany. This follows a request by US authorities to the German government due to the otherwise very much longer time needed to bring the patients back to the US.
The infected doctor and six of his contacts will be treated in what has been described as Germany’s largest infectious diseases isolation ward.
