President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has extended a quarantine imposed on two districts at the epicentre of the country’s Ebola outbreak by 21 days, saying his government’s response to the disease was successful.
The presidency announced late Saturday that movement into and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda will be restricted until December 17. It was imposed for 21 days on October 15, then extended for another 21 days on November 5.
The purpose of the extension was to “further sustain the gains in Ebola control that we have made, and to protect the rest of the country from further exposure.”
The government’s anti-Ebola efforts were bearing fruit, with two districts now going nearly two weeks without new cases, according to the president.
“It may be too early to celebrate any successes, but overall, I have been briefed that the picture is good,” he said in a statement.
The East African nation has so far recorded 141 infections. Fifty-five people have died since the outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever was declared on September 20th.
Although the outbreak was gradually being brought under control, the “situation is still fragile,” Museveni said, adding that the country’s weak health system and circulation of misinformation about the disease were still a challenge.
The Ebola virus circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain, for which there is no proven vaccine, unlike the more common Zaire strain, which spread during recent outbreaks in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.