The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the end of the latest Ebola outbreak in Uganda after the east African country has reported no new confirmed case for 42 consecutive days.
In an online briefing on Wednesday, Marie Roseline Belizaire, at WHO Regional Office for Africa, said 42 days has gone since the last confirmed Ebola case was discharged in Uganda. The all-clear for Uganda follows a declaration on July 28 from the Ugandan government that it was free of the disease, which caused 20 cases and two deaths in the country. The WHO monitored the situation until this week to ensure that no chains of transmission had been missed.
Late July, Uganda’s health ministry first declared the Ebola outbreak over, noting that advances in epidemiological investigations and the fully characterized nature of the outbreak provided sufficient scientific evidence that transmission had been interrupted.
Belizaire said the WHO monitored the situation until this week to ensure that no chains of transmission had been missed. Belizaire, however, said that cases in Democratic Republic of Congo continued to rise despite some progress. The outbreak there is the second-deadliest in history, and outpacing containment efforts.
According to the Congolese government, as of Tuesday there have been more than 2,700 deaths and more than 5,600 cases. “Transmission remains very active,” said Belizaire. “We have slowed the acceleration, but we have not yet bent this curve.”
MG/abj/APA