UGANDA CLOSE SCHOOLS EARLY TO CURB THE SPREAD OF EBOLA

Schools in Uganda closed nationwide on Friday to control the spread of Ebola in the country, regardless of the health minister being firm that the reported cases has declined.

Regarding the death of eight children earlier this month from the highly transmissible disease, an order was given to close all schools two weeks before the end of the term.

The Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, said the number of newly recorded cases in the capital, Kampala, and the core areas of Mubende and Kassanda has declined.

Mrs Jane said, “The major breakthrough in this fight against Ebola for Uganda is that the communities have realized that Ebola is deadly and it kills.

“We encourage the population to remain alert and cooperate with the health teams if we are to win this battle and there are signs Uganda is winning,” added Mrs Jane.

From the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Uganda on Thursday, it said that as it stands now, there have not been any declaration for nine days in Kampala, ten days in Mubende and twelve days in Kassanda.

According to the Uganda authorities, who have imposed lockdowns in Mubende and Kassanda, the outbreak has caused the death of 55 out 141 known cases.

There have been the imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, ban on personal travels and the closure of bars, market and churches to help in the control of the disease.

In one of the schools in Kampala, a parent said he was relieved to take his child back home.

One banker, Joab Baryayaka said, “I think this early closure was really necessary, because of the situation, the Ebola situation in the country, we trust they are safer with us than staying at school, where we cannot guarantee the situation.”

On the 20th of September, when the outbreak was declared in Mubende, the disease has spread over the East African nation.

The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has continuously dismissed imposing nationwide COVID-like restrictions.

As stated by WHO, a disease outbreak ends when no more cases are recorded for 42 consecutive days, thus twice the incubation period of the disease.

The new strain of the virus moving around is identified as the Sudan Ebola virus which has no actual vaccine at the moment, although there are several potential jabs been taken for clinical trials.

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This highly contagious disease is spread through bodily fluids. It has common symptoms like vomiting, fever, diarrhoea and bleeding.