The World Health Organisation on Tuesday revised the number of Ebola cases in an outbreak in Africa down, with 300 infections confirmed but hundreds ruled out.
The WHO said there have been 321 confirmed cases of Ebola in the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are another 116 suspected cases.
It said there have been 48 deaths. Six people have recovered in DR Congo. In Uganda, there has been one death associated with Ebola, WHO representative Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.
Uganda's Health Ministry announced six more cases of Ebola, bringing the total confirmed in the country to 15. The ministry said the six were confirmed to be contacts of confirmed cases.
The WHO had said on Friday that there were 906 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including 223 suspected deaths that were being investigated.
Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, separately revealed on Sunday that more than 1,100 suspected cases were being investigated.
But the numbers have now been revised down. When asked why the latest figures showed a significantly lower number of suspected cases, Mr Lindmeier said the data suggested hundreds of cases had been discounted.
“They have been cleared out and have either other diseases or have just had fever and nothing else,” he said. Mr Lindmeier said the numbers would fluctuate over time as people are tested.
A suspected case includes anyone who is picked up by surveillance or who presents with symptoms at a health centre, he added. Confirmed cases include only those who have tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo.
Testing has been a challenge in this outbreak as initially the more common tests used for Ebola did not detect the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine, and capacity has been limited.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's website also listed 116 suspected cases, and said: “On May 29, the DRC Ministry of Health updated their total suspect case count to remove suspected cases that have been ruled out after investigation and suspected deaths that are pending the results of continuing investigation.”
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Congo's 17th Ebola outbreak, on May 15, and the World Health Organisation swiftly declared it a public health emergency of international concern.
In Kenya, two people died during a protest against a planned US Ebola quarantine centre, a protest organiser said. The plan to set up a 50-bed unit to house Americans who have been exposed to the virus in DR Congo or Uganda has angered many Kenyans.
President Donald Trump's administration has said it “cannot and will not allow” any cases to enter the US unlike during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa when several infected Americans were treated on US soil.
The government in DR Congo reopened the airport in the capital city of the province hit hardest by the continuing Ebola outbreak, a statement said, reversing a move that some residents said had cut them off from critical supplies.
The ministry said all passengers would have their body temperatures screened before boarding and on arrival, that passengers were required to wash their hands before boarding and that any passenger with a fever would not be allowed to board.
The decision to reopen the airport in Bunia followed a visit from WHO director deneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who told reporters on Monday he saw some encouraging signs in the response, including five certified recoveries. But he also noted the need to ramp up testing and treatment capacity and promote trust in health workers.
