President Yoweri Museveni has announced that Uganda has recorded no new cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) over the past five days, describing the milestone as a clear sign that the outbreak is now under control.
In his televised address to the nation on the EVD outbreak, on Wednesday night, the President also said a few infections registered in the country were largely due to carelessness. He said Ebola is easier to prevent and manage than COVID-19, which killed over 3000 Ugandans following the 2020 outbreak.
‘The story is clear. Some sick people from Congo came. They were not handled properly, carefully here. That’s all,’ Mr Museveni said. ‘In spite of all that, for five days now, no new cases. It looks as if the fire of Ebola has started going down.’
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, a cumulative total of 19 confirmed cases have been recorded in the country (Uganda) with two deaths. Of the total cases, 14 are imported cases, and five are Ugandan nationals.
Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, said in the same televised address that up to five patients have recovered after treatment -four Congolese nationals and one Ugandan. But 12 people are still undergoing treatment. The patients are being provided supportive treatment to manage symptoms and complications since there are no approved drugs for the Ebola Bundibugyo Virus Disease.
Dr Charles Olaro, the Director General of Health Services at the Ministry, said of the infected Ugandans, health workers are the most hit -four health workers in one Kampala capital city facility. The other infected Ugandan was a driver.
According to Dr Olaro, the unsuspecting health workers in Kampala Hospital had tried to resuscitate the patient, who they didn’t know had Ebola by then, and in the process had a high-risk exposure to the virus.
Around 100 health workers have, since May 15, been put under quarantine for getting exposed to the virus after treating Ebola patients in their different health facilities in Kampala, according to the Uganda Medical Association.
During the address, the President said the health workers were careless and that they touched the patients without gloves.
‘Ebola is an aggressive disease, but in my view, it is not as difficult to fight as either HIV/AIDS or COVID-19. Even AIDS was easy to fight, in my opinion, but COVID-19 was very dangerous because it was spreading through breathing,” the President said. ‘This meant that if I sat with you in a taxi, even if I didn’t touch you, through the air, you could infect me.’
Prevention
Mr Museveni justified why he thinks Ebola is easier to prevent. ‘Now, the good thing with Ebola is that it spreads through contact. If it is spreading through contact, intimate contact, then it’s spreading because of carelessness,’ he said.
The President appealed to Ugandans and people in the region to desist from practices that enable the spread of the disease, such as washing of dead bodies, especially those who died of Ebola-like symptoms.
‘So, therefore, please, we have a lot of work to do. Let’s be very serious. We don’t have to keep playing around. Listen carefully and act. This is easy to stop. We stopped it in the past. We cannot stop it now,’ he added.
The President also warned pastors, one of the most affected categories, against touching sick people, saying God can hear them even when they don’t touch the sick while praying for them.
‘Some of the people who are dying most in some of the areas I don’t want to talk about are pastors and health workers, because of touching,’ he said.
Mr Museveni asked Ugandans to urgently seek medical care or alert health workers if they see Ebola-like symptoms, to prevent the spread of the disease.
‘Handling dead bodies is another big problem. Those customs like washing dead bodies were there, but now that there is danger, if somebody is sick, call the doctors because the doctors can tell you what sort of sickness it is. Don’t just hide and just do it yourself,” he said.
“You now know how Ebola spreads: saliva, blood, sweat, vomit, sperms – Ebola can stay in the man for nine months. This shaking of hands, please…. shaking of hands for what? There is a problem, just wave at people,” he added.
Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister of Health, said Uganda has mounted a strong response against EVD with restrictions on gathering and weekly markets in border districts, among other measures. He also reiterated the ongoing plans by Uganda to work with partners like the World Health Organisation and the DR Congo government to establish Ebola treatment centres in DR Congo. This move, according to the government of Uganda, will reduce importation of cases from DR Congo and speed up the containment of the outbreak in the region.
Ebola Factsheet June 9
Ebola statistics for Uganda (Source: MOH. Summary by Tonny Abet))
New cases
Cumulative cases
Active cases
Deaths
Recoveries
Contacts of patients
Ebola Incubation Period
00
19
(14 imported, 5 Ugandans)
12
02 (imported)
05
783
21 days
What Uganda has done to curb Ebola
Closed border with DR Congo
Put restrictions on public gatherings within Uganda
Enhanced awareness and community engagement on Ebola prevention
Established isolation/quarantine centres
Enhanced contact tracing and isolation of contacts
How Ebola spreads
Blood of infected person
Urine
saliva
faeces
Sweat
Vomit
Unsterilised equipment used by an infected person
Soiled clothing of an infected person
Handling wildlife whether alive or dead (especially bats and monkeys)
Prevention
· Avoid physical contact with anyone showing the Ebola symptoms
· Practice hand washing and maintain good hand hygiene at all times
· Avoid contact with body fluids that include urine, blood, sweat, saliva, vomitus, and stool
· seek appropriate health care services immediately when you experience Ebola-like symptoms
· Handling and burial of dead bodies of suspected Ebola patients should be supervised by the health team
· All public places should institute hand-washing facilities at their premises.
Symptoms of Ebola
High fever
Fatigue
Chest pain
Diarrhea
Abdominal pain
Joint and body pain
Vomiting
Rash
Unexplained bleeding