On Wednesday Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni ruled out imposing a lockdown to contain the Ebola virus emphasizing that the country had the capacity to contain the outbreak.
Last week, Authorities declared an outbreak in the central district of Mubende after the country reported its first fatality from the virus since 2019.
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In a televised press briefing, Museveni noted that the Ebola Caseload as of now stood at 24 with five confirmed deaths and 19 people classified as probable cases had also died, he added, explaining that they were buried before they could be tested for infection.
“We decided that we shall not have lockdowns. It is not necessary,” Museveni said.
“Government has capacity to control this outbreak as we have done before. There is no need for anxiety, no restrictions of movements, closure of schools, places of worship, markets as of now.”
Ebola is an often-fatal viral hemorrhagic fever. The disease is named after a river in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it was discovered in 1976.
People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days where transmission is through body fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea.
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At present there is no licensed medication to prevent or treat Ebola, although a range of experimental drugs are in development.
Uganda, which shares a porous border with the DRC, has experienced several Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2019 when at least five people died.
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