Mbarara now free of Ebola

By Charles Wendo MBARARA district was yesterday declared Ebola-free, reducing the number of districts with the deadly disease to two. The Director General of Health Services, Prof. Francis Omaswa, said the last case of Ebola was reported in Mbarara at least six weeks ago. Addressing a press conference at the Ministry of Health headquarters, Omaswa said no more Ebola cases were expected in the district since six weeks was twice the maximum incubation period of the disease. He said the epidemic in Gulu and Masindi would also be brought under control soon. He said the rate of spread had continued to decline since late October, though the progress was clouded by the death of health workers. "The epidemic is declining rapidly and strongly. As to when it will end, I cannot tell you but everything is being done to bring it to an end within a reasonable time," he said. A total of 161 people in Gulu, Masindi and Mbarara have died of Ebola since it broke out in October. Another 240 have been discharged after they recovered while a few are still undergoing treatment. Omaswa said the first batch of medical workers who responded to the call for volunteers had begun work in Masindi. He said over 20 other volunteers were on standby but he appealed for more. He said the special allowance for medical workers who treat Ebola patients had been increased from between sh6,000 and sh15,000 per person per day to between sh15,000 and sh25,000. He said all high-ranking technical staff in the ministry would camp in Gulu over Christmas beginning next week to participate in Ebola management. He appealed to Ugandans to show solidarity with Gulu and Masindi people. Assistant commissioner for national disease control Dr. Alex Opio said a blood sample from a soldier suspected to be suffering from Ebola in Bombo had been taken for tests. He said the patient who has been suffering from fever, bloody diarrhoea and bleeding through the nose as well as vomiting blood, was improving. He has been on treatment for four days. "He will most likely not be an Ebola case but we are taking the tests. He is not dead as reported in the press," he said. Army spokesman Major Phinehas Katirima said on phone that the soldier was alive. He said travellers from Gulu and Masindi should not be discriminated and appealed to communities not to reject the survivors since they are no longer infectious. Ends