Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni Thursday delivered his second address in two months which focused on the latest Ebola virus outbreak in the east African nation.
Kampala’s leader said his administration has set up treatment centers in "high risk areas," heightened contact tracing and is calling upon locals to seek conventional medical assistance if they suspect that they may have contracted the Ebola virus.
"You can’t be in the shrine and or in your brother’s house and think you will get the support that you would get in a government hospital,” said Museveni.
Museveni further called on all witchdoctors, traditionalists, and herbalists to turn people away if they come to them in pursuit of treatment for the Ebola virus.
Ugandan health authorities last month confirmed that the Sudanese variant of Ebola virus was spreading in the east African nation.
The World Health Organization Thursday said Uganda has registered 54 confirmed cases and 19 deaths since the latest outbreak, which was first reported in the central district of Mubende on the 20th of September.
Health experts say Uganda has experienced several Ebola outbreaks and the previous outbreak in 2019 witnessed the death of at least five people.
Experts also say neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo recently declared an end to an Ebola outbreak that had previously emerged in the eastern province of North Kivu.
Uganda’s Minister of Health, Ruth Jane Aceng said the east African nation recently received Ebola vaccines from the United States and the United Kingdom.
"These vaccines have already undergone research for efficacy and safety,” said Aceng, adding, “We are continuing with research because we want to understand how long they protect,"
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
