Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday reiterated that there won’t be any lockdown in the country to stop the spread of Ebola outbreak, reported The France 24.
“Regarding the Ebola situation, first of all, there will be no lockdown,” he wrote on Twitter on Friday.
The Ugandan President, however, said the public should be more vigilant and observe the standard operating procedures put in place to control the Ebola spread.
“Therefore, people should go ahead and concentrate on their work without worry. However, we should be more vigilant and observe the SOPs put in place to control the Ebola spread,” Museveni stated.
The president’s remarks come a week after Africa’s top helth body, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the outbreak was being controlled and assured there was no danger of “getting out of hand”.
In October, however, Museveni imposed a lockdown on two districts, Mubende and Kassanda, setting a dusk-to-dawn curfew, banning travel and closing markets, bars and churches for 21 days.
According to the Ugandan health ministry, the country had registered 115 confirmed cases and 32 deaths since the outbreak was announced on September 20. As per data collected, 2,168 people are listed for follow-up because they are contacts to confirmed Ebola cases.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for international support for Uganda to contain the spread of Ebola. The UN health agency warned that there was a high risk of Ebola spreading further and called on neighboring countries to boost their preparedness.
Notably, the particular Ebola strain now circulating in Uganda is known as the Sudan Ebola virus, for which there is currently no vaccine, although there are several candidate vaccines heading towards clinical trials.
The worst Ebola epidemic recorded in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people.
