Uganda authorities formally declares end of Ebola outbreak

• Ugandan authorities have declared the latest Ebola outbreak to be over.
• The World Health Organization says an outbreak is declared over after 42 days.
• The 42-day period is double the incubation period for Ebola.

After 42 days with no new cases, Ugandan authorities formally declared the latest Ebola outbreak to be over.

On Wednesday, an official announcement was made during a ceremony that was broadcast from the central Mubende district, which served as the outbreak’s core.

An Ebola outbreak is deemed to be over by the World Health Organization if there are no new cases after 42 days, which is double the incubation period.

“Today, 11th January 2023 marks 113 days since the start of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda,​” said the health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero.

“I urge the population to remain vigilant, implement the standard operating procedures and to report any person in the community that presents with Ebola-like symptoms,” she stressed.

Aceng Ocero said that the outbreak, the eighth in Ugana’s history, claimed 55 lives. She noted that there were a total of 143 confirmed cases and 22 probable cases.

Authorities initiated a vigorous contact-tracing effort to find family members and acquaintances who handled the bodies of victims or attended funerals in order to stop the outbreak.

Some managed to escape from quarantine institutions, some made it as far as Kampala, the country’s capital, while some sought treatment from traditional healers and witchdoctors.

According to the health ministry, cases were eventually confirmed in nine regions, including Kampala.

The Ebola virus is contagious, however not as contagious as some other infectious diseases as Covid-19.

It can be transmitted from one person to another through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids including saliva, perspiration, semen, or faeces, as well as through infected items like bedding or needles.

Fever, aches and pains, and lethargy are the first signs of Ebola, which can subsequently develop to vomiting, diarrhea, and inexplicable bleeding.

A 2012 outbreak in the western Kibaale district of the country resulted in 17 fatalities out of 24 confirmed cases, however it was resolved in less than three months.

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