Museveni extends Uganda's Ebola epicentre quarantine for 21 days
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has extended a quarantine
placed on two districts that are the epicentre of the country's Ebola outbreak
by 21 days, adding that his government's response to the disease was
succeeding.
Movement into and out of
Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda will be restricted up to Dec.
17, the presidency said late on Saturday. It was originally imposed for 21 days
on Oct. 15, then extended for the same period on Nov. 5.
The
extension were "to further sustain the gains in control of Ebola that we
have made, and to protect the rest of the country from continued exposure."
The government's anti-Ebola efforts were succeeding with two
districts now going for roughly two weeks without new cases, the president
said.
"It may be too early to
celebrate any successes, but overall, I have been briefed that the picture is
good," he said in a statement.
The East African nation has so
far recorded 141 infections. Fifty-five people have died since the outbreak of
the deadly haemorrhagic fever was declared on Sept. 20th.
Although the outbreak was
gradually being brought under control, the "situation is still
fragile," Museveni said, adding that the country's weak health system and
circulation of misinformation about the disease were still a challenge.
The
Ebola virus circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain, for which there is no
proven vaccine, unlike the more common Zaire strain, which spread during recent
outbreaks in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
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