The Ebola epidemic that has been raging in Uganda since September has killed up to 44 people, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.
"
In total, there are 60 confirmed and 20 probable cases of Ebola, with 44 dead, and 25 people recovered
," said Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during a press briefing in Geneva.
The previous WHO report, published on October 5, reported 29 deaths.
The figures given by the UN agency include deaths among people confirmed to have the virus, but also among suspected cases.
The figures published by the Kampala authorities, for their part, only count the deaths among the confirmed patients, and the last official Ugandan report, dating back to October 11, was 19 dead.
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"
We remain concerned that there may be more chains of transmission and more contact (with the virus) than we know in affected communities
," the WHO chief said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on October 15 ordered the confinement of two districts in the center of the country at the epicenter of the current Ebola epidemic with a travel ban, curfew and closure of places open to the public.
Mr. Museveni had already ordered traditional healers to stop caring for the sick, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, and the police to arrest anyone suspected of having contracted Ebola who refused to be released. isolation.
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Authorities say cases are concentrated in the central districts of Mubende and Kassanda and the outbreak has not reached Kampala, despite a couple testing positive for the virus in the capital.
These two positive cases “
increase the risk of transmission in the city
”, which has 1.5 million inhabitants, underlined Mr. Tedros.
Human transmission is through bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.
Infected people only become contagious after the onset of symptoms, after an incubation period ranging from 2 to 21 days.
Epidemics are difficult to contain, especially in urban areas.
Uganda has experienced several Ebola epidemics, the last of which was in 2019. There is currently no vaccine against the strain of Ebola virus, known as the "
Sudanese strain
", which is currently raging in the country.
The WHO announced on October 12 that clinical trials of vaccines against this strain could begin "
in the coming weeks
" in Uganda.