Uganda has announced the closure of its border with DR. Congo, where suspected cases of Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus, have surged, APA learned Thursday.
This comes after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients.
The outbreak is centered in Congo’s Ituri province, which is on Uganda’s western border.
The closure came after seven cases were confirmed and one death was reported in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa and that it has no approved medicines or vaccines.
A local Ugandan task force made the decision on the border closure. The Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who had crossed the border before the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.
More than 1,000 cases and more than 200 deaths have been recorded in the outbreak, largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the World Health Organization, which declared the outbreak a global health emergency on May 17.
The border closure whic comes into immediate effect, is temporary, Dr. Diana Atwine of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told journalists.
Border crossings will be authorised only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, humanitarian, cargo or security reasons, she added.
Anyone entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory isolation for 21 days.
The current outbreak is the 17th in Congo and the third largest overall.
But health experts say that they are particularly concerned about this outbreak because there is not yet a vaccine to treat Bundibugyo Ebola, the species that is spreading.
MG/as/APA