In early December, the first doses of a vaccine candidate against the strain of Ebola blamed for the current outbreak arrived in Uganda.
Ugandan authorities on Saturday announced the lifting of a two-month lockdown in the two regions at the epicenter of the current Ebola outbreak, which has killed at least 56 people, citing progress in the fight against the virus. it causes hemorrhagic fever and is often fatal to the majority of those it infects.
The two districts affected by the measure, Mubende and Kassandra, were placed under lockdown by order of President Yoweri Museveni on October 15.
As of September 20, the east African country has recorded 142 confirmed cases of Ebola and 56 deaths from the disease, with the outbreak reaching the capital, Kampala.
Yesterday Saturday the vice president Jessica Alupo, on behalf of the head of state, announced “the lifting of all movement restrictions and the lifting of the night traffic ban in Mubede and Kassandra districts with immediate effect”.
The two regions in the central part of Uganda have lived in recent months under very strict restrictions on movement: night traffic ban, ban on personal movement, closure of markets, bars, places of worship…
“The lifting of restrictions is based on the fact that there is currently no transmission, no contact tracing, no patient in isolation, and we are progressing well,” the vice president added.
However, he stressed that the government remains in a state of “maximum alert” for the possibility of a resurgence of the epidemic.
The announcement follows calls by local officials in November for the measures to be lifted and for the government to offer aid to citizens affected by the measures.
In early December, the first doses of a vaccine candidate against the strain of Ebola blamed for the current outbreak arrived in Uganda.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the country has “started the countdown” to the end of the epidemic.
According to WHO criteria, an Ebola outbreak is considered over when no new cases of the disease have been confirmed for 42 consecutive days, twice the incubation period of the Ebola virus.
The first case of the so-called “Sudan” strain of the virus was announced on September 20 in Mubede district. Since then, 56 human lives have been lost to the virus out of a total of 142 laboratory-confirmed infections.
The “Sudanese” strain is generally thought to kill 40 to 60% of the people it infects.
The virus is named after a river in the area where it was identified in 1976 in what was then Zaire, now DR Congo.
Uganda has experienced six outbreaks of Ebola, most recently in 2019. Four of those were attributed to the Sudanese strain.
Since 2000, the WHO has counted 32 Ebola outbreaks; the worst, in West Africa, killed more than 11,300 people from 2013 to 2016.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
