39 Ebola deaths recorded in Uganda, capital Kampala affected, says WHO
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday reported 54 confirmed and 20 probable cases of the Ebola virus in Uganda.
It also recorded 39 deaths and 14 recoveries, with the capital, Kampala, recording its first death.
The victim is the 19th person to die from the outbreak, although another 20 deaths have been classified as "probable", the WHO said, explaining that according to Ugandan health authorities, after developing symptoms, the man fled his village and visited a traditional healer in another area.
He died at the National Referral Hospital in Kiruddu last Friday, but his death was not confirmed until Tuesday.
According to WHO, more than 660 contacts are currently under active follow-up.
"WHO continues to support the government in responding to an outbreak of Ebola in five districts," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a weekly press briefing, according to the UN website.
"Our main objective now is to assist the Government of Uganda to rapidly control and contain this Ebola outbreak, to prevent it from spreading to neighbouring districts and countries," the WHO chief added.
To prevent the spread of the epidemic to neighbouring countries, a high-level emergency meeting was held on Wednesday in the Ugandan capital, bringing together health ministers from 11 African countries to discuss cross-border collaboration on Ebola preparedness and response.
According to WHO, the objective of the meeting is to strengthen and improve collaboration and coordination for cross-border preparedness and response to the Ebola epidemic and other public health emergencies.
During the meeting, the WHO chief said that a clinical trial of vaccines that could combat the Sudanese strain of Ebola that caused the outbreak in Uganda could begin in the coming weeks.
WHO's main objective now is to "rapidly control and contain this outbreak in order to protect neighbouring districts as well as neighbouring countries," said Dr Tedros, who did not give details of the vaccines to be tested, including their names or the companies that have developed them.
"Unfortunately, the Ebola vaccines that have been so effective in controlling recent outbreaks in the DRC are not effective against the type of Ebola virus that is causing the current outbreak in Uganda," the WHO chief concluded.
The UN World Health Agency says it has released $2 million from its Emergency Relief Fund and is working with its partners to support the Ministry of Health with additional specialists, supplies and resources.
To help Kampala's neighbours prepare, WHO has also released an additional $3 million from the Emergency Relief Fund.
-0- PANA TNDD/JSG/BBA/RA 13Oct2022
