Uganda's Health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng says no Ebola-related death has been registered in West Nile region’s Arua district, Trend reports citing Observer.
The country has been on high alert since June following the first three confirmed Ebola cases and deaths from the same family who'd travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and came back with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
Death of another confirmed Ebola case from Ariwara health zone near Arua district in Uganda this week caused anxiety amongst the Ugandan population, with some mistaking it to have been in Uganda. The minister however says though the death was near the border, it was outside Uganda.
"I would like to inform the public that there is no case of confirmed case of Ebola in Uganda and no case of Ebola death in West Nile. The case of Ebola that travelled to Beni and died in Ariwara, died in Ariwara which is the western side of Beni and not in Uganda. But I want the population to take note that Ariwara is only 8km from the border with Arua and that is why we are concerned because of the proximity of Ariwara and also the fact that there is a big market in Ariwara where people from West Nile and DRC converge." Aceng said.
Aceng said Uganda already built capacity in the districts bordering DRC and that preparedness efforts were beefed following the reported death in DRC’s Ariwara area almost 460 kilometer north of DRC’s North Kivu province. A team of Ebola vaccinators was dispatched from Kasese district to beef up the vaccination of the front-line health workers in Arua and neighbouring districts.
She says it is important the districts along the Uganda-DRC borderline especially Arua, Maracha and Yumbe among others mobilize and sensitize the communities about the latest Ebola threat from Congo.
The World Health Organization’s latest report said no Ebola virus disease cases or deaths have been reported in Uganda since the previous deaths in Kasese district on June 12. The report says as of 26 June, 108 exposed contacts had been identified, and they were in the process of completing the 21-day follow-up period.
All the contacts according to the WHO have not shown any symptoms of Ebola to date and that all the 14 suspected cases tested negative for Ebola Virus Disease. Meanwhile, WHO says the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo continued with a steady transmission intensity this week.
It said the current hotspots are the DRC’s health zones of Beni, Mabalako, and Mandima, with some cases being exported from these hotspot areas into unaffected health zones.