Tanzania has been put on high alert after the Ebola outbreak reached Uganda, a country with which Tanzania shares a long border.
The Tanzanian Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu issued an alert to the public on Sunday about the looming Ebola threat on the country.
“I would like to alert the public to the existence of a threat of an Ebola epidemic in our country following the outbreak of this disease in Uganda,” said Mwalimu, reported Africa News.
She justified the warning as people of both the two countries carry out important interactions through official borders and other unofficial channels.
“The regions of Kagera, Mwanza, and Kigoma (northwest) are the most threatened, but since this disease is very easily and quickly transmitted from one person to another, almost the entire country is at risk,” the health minister said.
Mwalimu began a tour in the regions on Saturday to assess the measures put in place, particularly at ports and border crossings to deal with possible cases of Ebola. Tanzania has not had any cases of Ebola to date.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is already going through its second-deadliest Ebola outbreak that began in August last year. The outbreak has already affected 2,062 people and killed more than 1,400 to date.
The life-threatening Ebola outbreak spilled into Uganda last week after the first case was reported on Tuesday, June 11. A 5-year-old Congolese boy who traveled across the border with family a few days earlier was the first to test positive for Ebola. The boy and his 50-year-old grandmother both died of the disease. The other family members of the deceased Ebola victims were repatriated from Uganda to the DRC, where they will be provided with experimental and therapeutic treatment.
The World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee on Friday declared that the ongoing outbreak is not a global health emergency yet as the risk of international spread remains low.
