UGANDA — The raising of the threat level of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO) has neighbors on edge amid growing questions over lockdowns and the broader response.

Infections in Uganda have continued to rise more than a month after an Ebola outbreak was declared, and the World Health Organization has raised its Ebola risk assessment for both the country and the wider region since the virus reached the capital, Kampala.

Rather than Uganda having contained the virus, the WHO stated in a 28 October update that “the risk can be assessed to be very high at the national level, and high at the regional level,” a step up in threat level from previous assessments. It went on to describe global risk as low.

According to Uganda’s Ministry of Health, there were 130 confirmed Ebola cases and 43 deaths as of October 31, for a 33% case fatality rate.

The lack of a licensed vaccine for the “Sudan” strain present in Uganda, as well as the spread of the outbreak to Kampala, have exacerbated the public health risks, WHO warned.

Since the first case of the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda was confirmed in mid-September 2022, the number of cases has topped 127 across seven districts, including 17 in the capital city Kampala.

Most people living in the city fear another round of lockdowns, perhaps even more than they fear becoming infected.

Since the outbreak was declared on September 20, the highly contagious virus has spread to six rural districts in the country’s center – Mubende, Kassanda, Kagadi, Bunyangabu, Kyegegwa, and Wakiso – as well as Kampala, a 3.6 million-person city in the south.

Uganda’s six neighboring countries – Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania are watching the Ebola situation carefully.

Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda have gradually increased surveillance along their borders with Uganda in an attempt to keep the virus out.

The European Union (EU) has allocated KSh119.6 million (US$984,362) in humanitarian funding to help Kenya take anticipatory action against the spread of Ebola following its outbreak in Uganda.

Tanzania has also strengthened public health surveillance across the country’s entry points and port services

Further West, Nigeria has announced that passengers arriving from Uganda, and people who transited in Uganda, are being followed up on their health status for 21 days after their arrival in Nigeria.

Between 2014 and 2016, Western Africa experienced its worst Ebola epidemic to date. At the time, the virus killed over 11,300 people.

However, there have been numerous smaller outbreaks in the forests of eastern and central Africa since the virus first appeared in 1976. According to reports, all of these outbreaks were quickly contained.

Uganda’s outbreak is so far the eighth largest on record, amid fears gaps in contact tracing may see its further spread.

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