Uganda has contained its latest Ebola outbreak, nearly two months after it was declared following the importation of cases from neighbouring Congo, the country’s Health Ministry said on Sunday, while also seeking the removal of Ebola-related travel restrictions imposed by some countries.
Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine said the outbreak had been contained through the treatment of confirmed cases, contact tracing, quarantine measures and supportive care. Uganda has also stepped up preventive measures along its border with eastern Congo, the epicentre of the ongoing outbreak, to prevent further transmission.
Atwine said Uganda had begun engaging countries that imposed Ebola-related travel restrictions to have the measures lifted. She also announced that a team of Ugandan medical personnel, along with two mobile laboratories and logistical support, had been deployed to Congo to strengthen the cross-border Ebola response and reduce the movement of infected patients into Uganda.
According to the Health Ministry, Uganda has recorded 20 confirmed Ebola cases since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 15 imported cases from Congo and five locally transmitted infections. Sixteen patients have recovered, two remain hospitalised and two have died.
The ministry said the mandatory 42-day countdown to declaring Uganda Ebola-free will begin only after the last confirmed patient is no longer capable of transmitting the virus. If no new cases emerge during that period, the outbreak will officially be declared over.
(IANS)
