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Uganda

East Africa vigilant as Uganda locks down Ebola epicenter

Author: Editors Desk Source: DW:
October 18, 2022 at 09:06
Image: Hajarah Nalwadda/ASSOCIATED PRESS/picture alliance
Image: Hajarah Nalwadda/ASSOCIATED PRESS/picture alliance
A lockdown is now in place in the two central districts of Uganda where Ebola has claimed at least 19 lives. Most of the country's immediate neighbors are taking action to keep the deadly virus out.

To stop the spread of the Ebola outbreak, President Yoweri Museveni has ordered the lockdown of the two districts in Central Region, the epicenter of Uganda's latest Ebola outbreak.

Museveni, who had initially ruled out a lockdown, said "extra measures" were needed to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

Restrictions on traffic movement and people in and out of  Mubende and Kasanda districts came into effect on October 16 and will apply for 21 days.

Nineteen deaths and 54 infections have been reported in under a month since the outbreak was reported.
 

Diana Atwine at a media briefing
On September 20, 2022, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Diana Atwine, confirmed the first death in an Ebola outbreak in UgandaImage: Hajarah Nalwadda/ASSOCIATED PRESS/picture alliance


In Mubende on Monday, the lockdown was being enforced, with only motorcycles carrying cargo seen on the roads. 

Uganda's neighbors take precautions 

Recently, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda have gradually intensified surveillance along their borders with Uganda to keep Ebola out.

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