Ugandan authorities have imposed a travel lockdown on two Ebola-hit districts as part of efforts to contain an outbreak of the disease that has killed 19 people so far.
The measures announced by President Yoweri Museveni mean residents of the central Ugandan districts of Mubende and Kassanda cannot travel into or out of those areas by private or public means.
Cargo lorries will still be allowed to enter and leave the two areas, but all other transport was suspended, he said.
All entertainment places, including bars, as well as places of worship must close, and all burials in those districts must be supervised by health officials, Mr Museveni said. A night-time curfew also has been imposed. The restrictions will last at least 21 days.
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Medical laboratory assistant Mellon Kyomugisha, who said she was the first to examine the first confirmed Ebola victim when he came to St Florence Clinic with malaria, takes a blood sample from a toddler at the clinic in Madudu, Uganda, on Wednesday, September 28. In this remote Ugandan community facing its first Ebola outbreak, testing trouble has added to the challenges with symptoms of the Sudan strain of Ebola being similar to malaria, underscoring the pitfalls health workers face in their response. AP -
An attendant disinfects the boots of a medical officer before leaving the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital, in Mubende, Uganda. September 29, 2022. AP -
A pupil revises in a classroom at Madudu Catholic Church school, where many are staying away owing to the risk of Ebola. AP -
A medical officer from the Uganda Red Cross Society instructs people with suspected Ebola symptoms to enter an ambulance, in Madudu, near Mubende. AP -
Doctors pray before entering the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
A woman passes a sign with telephone numbers for Ebola help hotlines at the St Florence Clinic in Madudu, near Mubende. AP -
Relatives of a woman who died from Ebola prepare her grave in Kijavuzo village, Mubende district. AP -
Doctors at the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
A medical attendant near a sign explaining to patients about the symptoms of Ebola at the entrance to Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
Boots hung up to dry after being disinfected outside the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
A medical attendant disinfects a man's gloves before leaving the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
Nurse Edgar Muhindo, left, at St Florence Clinic in Madudu, which unknowingly treated two Ebola patients for malaria before they sought care elsewhere. AP -
Books abandoned in a classroom at Madudu Catholic Church school. AP -
Farmer Margaret Nakanyike, one of those herded into the isolation unit after two members of her household showed signs of Ebola, says she was lucky to escape infection. AP -
Doctors at the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. AP -
A teacher takes a primary school class at Madudu Catholic Church school, where many pupils stayed away owing to the risk of Ebola. AP -
A man studies an Ebola awareness campaign poster after an outbreak of the disease. Kampala, Uganda, September 28, 2022. EPA
“These are temporary measures to control the spread of Ebola,” he said.
The particular strain now circulating in Uganda is known as the Sudan Ebola virus, for which there is currently no vaccine. It has infected 58 people in the East African country since September 20, when authorities declared an outbreak. At least 19 people have died, including four health workers.
Ugandan authorities were slow to detect the outbreak, which began infecting people in a farming community in August.
The lockdown measures come amid concern that some patients in the Ebola hot spots could surreptitiously try to seek treatment elsewhere — as did one man who fled Mubende and died at a hospital in Kampala earlier this month.
Ugandan authorities have documented more than 1,100 contacts of known Ebola patients, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ebola, which in a viral haemorrhagic fever, can be difficult to detect at first because fever is also a symptom of malaria.
The infection spreads through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River after which the disease is named.
