Ebola outbreak in Uganda still a manageable risk - Africa CDC

[October 20, 2022]  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Africa's top public health body said on Thursday there was a risk that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda could spread but it was still manageable at this stage and emergency measures were not necessary.

"The risk is there but it is a manageable risk," Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director of Africa CDC, told reporters at an online briefing.

He said at this stage there was no need to go into "full emergency measures mode".

There have been 60 confirmed and 20 probable cases since the outbreak began last month, and 44 deaths, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The strain spreading in Uganda is the Sudan strain, and the existing vaccines and therapies do not work against it.

Ouma said there were plans to launch vaccine trials but no timeframe on the tests had been confirmed.

An Ugandan health worker shows an informational flyer on Ebola virus and how to prevent its spread to the community of Kirembo village, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Kasese district, Uganda June 15, 2019. REUTERS/James Akena/File Photo

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday the government was implementing some lockdown measures, including restricting movement and closing places of worship and entertainment, in Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicentre of the epidemic.

(Reporting by James Macharia ChegeEditing by Estelle Shirbon)

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