Oct. 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the Uganda Medical Association, Samuel Oledo, has recommended that strict measures be considered to deal with the Ebola outbreak in the country.
Among the strict measures, Oledo has highlighted the need to confine the capital, Kampala, he explained in statements to the Ugandan radio station KFM.
The doctor has expressed his “fear” that the Government is “sitting on a time bomb”, while he has warned that “the worst is yet to come if nothing is done in the shortest possible time” with the aim of containing the spread of the virus.
“Kampala should have movement restrictions. The sooner we close Kampala, the better. Ugandans still take it as something minor, but it is catastrophic (…),” Oledo explained.
The country’s authorities announced on Monday that the Ebola outbreak affecting Uganda has reached the Kampala metropolitan region.
Since the first case was confirmed in Uganda, on September 20, the Government has registered a total of 95 cases, according to the latest balance released by the Ministry of Health. At least 28 patients have died, while the authorities monitor more than 1,800 contacts to try to cut the chain of contagion of a potentially deadly disease.
The minister has urged the population to remain “vigilant” and alert the authorities in case of contact with a sick person. Around 1.5 million people live in the capital alone, which would make containment even more essential to avoid an exponential growth in cases.
The Government has also offered, in collaboration with the UN, training sessions for journalists to help raise this awareness, which is key to containing the outbreak. Contrary to other previous emergencies in African countries, the strain detected in Uganda is the Sudan, for which no vaccines have been developed.
