Vaccine trials offer hope
Ebola can spread from person to person through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids such as saliva, sweat, semen, or feces, or through contaminated objects like bedding or needles.
“It doesn’t spread through the air like COVID-19 and does not hide for some months before it shows itself like AIDS,” Museveni said in his televised address.
The country had so far recorded 55 deaths from Ebola, 141 confirmed cases and 73 people had recovered, he said.
A deadly outbreak
Uganda is grappling with its deadliest Ebola outbreak in more than a decade, first detected in the Mubende district in late September.
The deadly disease has ravaged families, leaving authorities scrambling to control its spread.
The 2012 Ebola outbreak in the Kibaale district in the country’s western region, led to 17 deaths out of 24 confirmed cases but was declared over in less than 3 months.
Officials have launched aggressive contact tracing to track down relatives and friends who handled the bodies of first victims or attended funerals.
Some escaped from quarantine facilities, others traveled as far as the capital Kampala, and a few visited traditional healers and witchdoctors for treatment instead.
“Some of the patients are still hiding and they don’t know that they have Ebola so they’re out there in the community,”
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