India Launches Air Suvidha 2.0 Portal for Ebola Health Screening as WHO Declares Global Emergency Over Congo and Uganda Outbreak

In a swift and decisive public health response, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation and Delhi International Airport Limited jointly launched Air Suvidha 2.0 on Thursday, June 25, 2026, a modernised and fully contactless passenger health self-declaration portal designed to strengthen disease surveillance at the country's international points of entry. The move comes amid growing global concern over the ongoing Ebola disease outbreak spreading through the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, which the World Health Organisation formally declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern last month under the International Health Regulations 2005.

The launch marks a significant escalation in India's public health preparedness framework, combining digital infrastructure with real-time data systems to intercept at-risk travellers before they pass through immigration, all without the friction of paper-based health forms or physical contact at health desks.

The current outbreak has been identified not as the more commonly known Zaire strain of Ebola but as Bundibugyo virus disease, a distinct and deadly variant under the broader Ebola virus disease umbrella. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda are the epicentres of the outbreak, and the World Health Organisation formally elevated the situation to the level of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026, under the framework of the International Health Regulations 2005.

The Bundibugyo strain was first identified during an outbreak in Uganda in 2007 and carries a high fatality rate. What makes the current outbreak particularly alarming to global health authorities is the speed at which cases accumulated in the first month, with the WHO itself noting it registered the highest first-month case count of any African Ebola outbreak on record. The situation has prompted countries across the world, including India, to activate heightened border health surveillance protocols.

Beyond the two primary countries, nations sharing land borders with the DRC and Uganda, including South Sudan, have been formally assessed as high-risk for onward transmission. The WHO has regularly updated this risk classification as the outbreak has evolved, and India's health and aviation ministries have incorporated these assessments into the operational design of the Air Suvidha 2.0 system.

Air Suvidha 2.0 has been developed in close collaboration with the Directorate General of Health Services under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and it builds on the original Air Suvidha portal that was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to manage mass international arrivals during a time of global health crisis.

The core function of the portal is to enable all international arriving passengers to submit a mandatory online health self-declaration before they reach immigration clearance. This declaration covers three essential categories of information. First, passengers must provide a complete 21-day travel history, allowing health officers to determine whether they have recently visited any Ebola-affected or high-risk countries. Second, the form collects exposure history, meaning whether the traveller has come into contact with anyone who has been diagnosed with or is suspected of carrying the Bundibugyo virus. Third, passengers must disclose any symptoms consistent with Ebola or Bundibugyo virus disease.

What distinguishes Air Suvidha 2.0 from conventional health screening is its architecture of real-time data sharing. The moment a passenger completes the form, their declaration is instantly shared with the Airport Health Officer stationed at the point of entry, the Bureau of Immigration, and the relevant State Surveillance Officer in whichever Indian state the international airport is located. This triangulation of information allows health and immigration authorities to flag at-risk travellers within seconds and initiate immediate referral protocols without causing bottlenecks at the arrival gates.

One of the most practically significant features of the new system is that it is entirely contactless. Under the previous system, arriving international passengers often had to fill physical health declaration cards either on the aircraft or at designated counters after landing, creating both delays and unnecessary physical touchpoints that carry their own infection risk during an active disease outbreak.

Under Air Suvidha 2.0, the Self-Declaration Form can be completed up to 24 hours before the passenger's scheduled arrival in India. Passengers are actively encouraged to fill the form at the time of web check-in, making it a seamless part of the pre-boarding process rather than an additional burden at the airport. Once the form is submitted, the passenger only needs to show their downloaded Self-Declaration Form at the International Travel Health Desk or the immigration counter on arrival. No paper. No contact. No delay beyond what is strictly necessary for health officers to review the declaration.

The government has emphasised that all international travellers must complete their declaration accurately, with particular attention paid to travel history and any contact with individuals from the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, or other currently flagged zones. The Union government's release on the launch stated clearly that completing the self-declaration accurately and in advance is in the direct interest of both passenger safety and broader public health.

India has one of the world's largest volumes of international air passenger traffic, and its airports serve as critical nodes in the global aviation network. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, managed by DIAL, is among the busiest in Asia and handles a substantial number of passengers arriving from Africa, including routes that connect through hubs serving East and Central African destinations.

The collaboration between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DIAL in launching Air Suvidha 2.0 reflects an understanding that public health emergencies today require aviation infrastructure to act as the first line of defence. Digital tools like the self-declaration portal do not replace clinical screening or thermal scanning but they create a critical layer of prior intelligence. By the time a passenger with a 21-day travel history that includes Kampala or Kinshasa steps up to the immigration counter, health officers can already have their declaration reviewed and a response plan ready if the declaration reveals any red flags.

The Directorate General of Health Services' active involvement in the portal's design also ensures that the questions, categories, and screening thresholds are calibrated to current epidemiological guidance rather than generic health templates. This is a medically informed digital system, not simply a data collection exercise.

International passengers flying into India from anywhere in the world, and especially those who have recently visited or transited through Central or East African countries, must register and complete the Air Suvidha Self-Declaration Form before boarding their flight to India. The form is accessible online and takes only a few minutes to fill if travel history information is kept ready.

Failure to provide accurate information or to complete the form could result in additional screening and potential delay at the health desk on arrival. Passengers who exhibit symptoms consistent with Bundibugyo virus disease or who report high-risk exposure in their declaration will be referred to medical officers stationed at the airport for evaluation. The system is designed to be swift and non-disruptive for the vast majority of travellers who present no risk indicators, while enabling rapid clinical response for those who do.

The government has not announced mandatory quarantine or testing requirements for arrivals from non-affected countries as of the launch date, but health authorities have indicated that the situation is being monitored continuously and protocols may be updated as the WHO's guidance on the outbreak evolves.

The launch of Air Suvidha 2.0 is not only a technical upgrade. It is a statement about how India intends to manage the intersection of global mobility and global health risk in the years ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations of paper-based, reactive health screening at borders. The Ebola outbreak now unfolding in Central Africa, with its record-breaking initial case load and cross-border transmission risk, presents a different but equally serious challenge.

India's response, combining real-time digital declarations, multi-agency data sharing between health and immigration bodies, and a contactless passenger experience, reflects a more sophisticated model of border health management than what most countries deployed during the early days of the pandemic.

As the WHO continues to monitor the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak across the DRC, Uganda, and neighbouring countries, India's airports are now equipped with a system that can respond in hours to changes in the outbreak's geography. Whether Air Suvidha 2.0 will need to be expanded in scope or mandatory for specific nationalities will depend on how the outbreak evolves over the coming weeks, but as of June 25, 2026, the system is live, operational, and represents one of the more robust national responses to an emerging global health emergency seen in the region.