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Uganda is due to discharge its last Ebola patient on Thursday, marking the start of the 42-day countdown required before the country can be declared free of the virus if no new cases surface.
According to Reuters, a government health portal showed on Thursday that 17 patients had recovered, one remained in isolation, and two people had died. It also indicated that five cases were locally acquired while 15 were imported.
Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja said the final patient would be discharged from the isolation unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala.
According to Kasujja, the discharge would trigger the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) mandatory 42-day waiting period before an Ebola outbreak can officially be declared over, provided no additional infections are recorded.
“When that happens, Uganda starts counting down,” Kasujja said. “If 42 days pass without a single new case, WHO guidelines stipulate that we will be declared Ebola-free.”
Uganda has recorded 20 confirmed Ebola cases, including two deaths, and one probable fatal case since the latest outbreak was declared in May. No new infections have been reported since June 21.
The WHO said all confirmed cases in Uganda were linked to transmission originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), involving imported infections and subsequent spread among contacts and healthcare workers. The cases were associated with the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
While Uganda’s outbreak appears to be under control, the situation in neighbouring DRC continues to worsen.
The WHO said the outbreak in the DRC, which it declared a public health emergency in May, had recorded 2,011 confirmed cases and 754 deaths as of Wednesday. The agency described it as the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record.
WHO Executive Director for Health Emergencies, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said earlier this week that the DRC was experiencing some of its highest daily infection numbers, with more than 80 new cases confirmed within 24 hours.
He likened the outbreak to a fire that continued to spread while intensifying at its centre, warning that transmission remained sustained and the number of infections was still increasing.
