Uganda reports Ebola cases in it’s capital Kampala

The health Ministry in Uganda has reported 14 confirmed cases of Ebola in the greater Kampala region, but sought to assure anxious residents that the situation in the capital was under control.

So far, the death toll across the country from the Ebola epidemic declared in late September has climbed to 44, according to World Health Organisation figures issued last week.

Speaking to the media, Uganda’s Health Minister Ruth Jane said there had been 14 confirmed cases in the Kampala area in the past 48 hours, including nine who were contacts of a fatality from Kassanda, which is one of two central districts at the heart of the outbreak. Out of the nine, those infected included seven family members from Masanafu, a densely populated slum area in Kampala.

Health ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona said all of the patients in Kampala were in isolation when they became symptomatic, reducing any chance of them passing on the virus.

President Yoweri Museveni earlier this month ordered Kassanda and Mubende, the epicentre of the outbreak, to be put under lockdown, imposing a travel ban, a curfew and the closure of public places.

The virus that is circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain of Ebola, for which there is no proven vaccine, unlike the more common Zaire strain that spread during recent outbreaks in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.