The Uganda authorities on Thursday put a ban on public gatherings in the Western district of Kasese, where two people have died of Ebola. The ban follows the death of a 5-year-old boy who died on Tuesday evening after crossing into Uganda with his family from Congo. His 50-year-old grandmother, who was accompanying them, also died of the disease on Wednesday.
The Ebola cases marked the first time that an outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo crossed into Uganda. The Ebola breakout has already killed 1,390 people in eastern Congo.
The other family members of the deceased Ebola victims including the dead child’s father, mother, 3-year-old brother and their 6-month-old baby, along with the family’s maid, have been repatriated from Uganda to Democratic Republic of Congo, where they will be provided with experimental and therapeutic treatment.
“Uganda remains in Ebola response mode to follow up the 27 contacts (of the family),” Uganda’s health ministry said in a statement.
Three other suspected Ebola cases not related to the family remain in isolation, the health ministry said.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross teams have launched an Ebola awareness drive in the Uganda-DRC border area after confirmed cases of the disease were reported. Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever with severe vomiting, diarrhea, and bleeding.
Local journalist Ronald Kule told Reuters that the people of Uganda have begun taking precautions.
“They are a little alarmed now and they realize that the risk of catching Ebola is now real,” he said. “Hand washing facilities have been put in place, with washing materials like JIK (bleach) and soap. There’s no shaking of hands, people just wave at each other.”
Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent 3,500 doses of a Merck experimental vaccine to Uganda this week and will begin vaccinating more people on Friday.
