OMM Newsroom
Ugandan citizens who recently travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo must undergo a 21-day quarantine after returning home, AnewZ reported. Uganda’s Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced the measure on Sunday.
Uganda declared its latest Ebola outbreak over in July, reporting no active infections. Surveillance and screening have been stepped up following recent cases.
Two people who travelled through Uganda were later confirmed to have contracted Ebola in Kenya and Nigeria. The case recorded in Nigeria is under investigation and involves the 42-year-old wife of a Swiss diplomat.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said the woman travelled from Uganda via Addis Ababa and arrived in Abuja on October 3. She is in isolation, and Nigerian officials say her condition has improved significantly. Authorities have identified 53 people who came into contact with her.
Ugandan officials are working with their Nigerian counterparts and international partners to examine genomic sequencing data, travel records and the woman’s movements and contacts.
Swiss officials have said they believe the woman contracted Ebola in Uganda. Baryomunsi described that conclusion as premature.
The minister said the woman’s relatives, who live in Uganda’s West Nile region, visited her in the Kasanga area of Kampala. They had previously travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Baryomunsi stressed that conclusions about where the infection occurred must be based on scientific evidence.
The first patient confirmed to have Ebola in Kenya travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda and flew from Entebbe International Airport to Nairobi on October 3. The patient died two days later.
The patients recorded in Kenya and Nigeria passed through Entebbe Airport on the same day. After reviewing security camera footage, Ugandan officials said there had been no physical contact between them.
Uganda’s Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Diana Atwine, said the movements of both passengers at the airport were being reviewed. Baryomunsi said all 60 people identified as contacts of the Ebola patient in Kenya had completed the 21-day monitoring period and been released.
As part of its response, Uganda has stepped up health screening at Entebbe International Airport and land border crossings. All passengers entering the country by air, land or water must complete a passenger information form.
The measures are intended to help detect possible infections quickly and trace people who may have been exposed to the virus.
Genomic analysis of the confirmed case in Nigeria showed that the virus was closely related to the strain identified in Kenya’s first case. However, Nigerian officials said there was no evidence that the patient from Kenya had travelled to Nigeria or was directly linked to the case there.
Uganda borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the current outbreak began, and has experienced several Ebola outbreaks in the past.
Concern over the outbreak grew after the World Health Organization reported an attack on health workers responding to the Ebola alert in northern Congo. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a nurse was killed and another health worker seriously injured in the town of Bafwasende on Saturday.
Ghebreyesus condemned the violence and said health workers responding to disease outbreaks must be able to carry out their duties safely and with dignity.
