Uganda detects two new cases of Ebola in a Kampala health facility; Total cases increased to 7

Uganda has detected two more confirmed cases of Ebola, bringing the total number of infections in the current outbreak in the country to seven, its health ministry said on Monday, Reuters reports.

According to the ministry statement, the two new cases are health workers at a private health facility in the capital, Kampala, and both are Ugandan citizens.

The latest infections follow the reporting of three confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the total to five.

Those earlier cases included a driver who transported the first confirmed patient, a health worker exposed while treating that patient, and a Congolese woman who later tested positive after travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Health officials said all identified contacts are being closely monitored as part of ongoing efforts to trace and control transmission chains, while infection control measures have been strengthened in health facilities.

This outbreak has the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern and warned that the risk of a national epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains “very high”.

About 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths have been recorded in Congo, which remains the epicentre of the outbreak.

WHO has said that Congo is particularly vulnerable because of delayed detection, no vaccine or virus-specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, widespread armed violence, and high population mobility.

Earlier, WHO Africa Director Mohamed Yacoub Janabi also warned against underestimating the outbreak and said doing so would be a “big mistake”, especially given the Bundibugyo strain for which there is no vaccine.