Ministry urges calm on Ebola

The government has appealed for calm following reports that the deadly Ebola virus has been detected in Kampala, Uganda.

There was no need for panic over the disease, the Director of Public Health, Dr Shanaaz Shariff, said on Monday.

“There is no need for panic following this report...In any case, we are not restricting our people travelling to Uganda and vice versa,” he said in a telephone interview.

Health officials, Dr Shariff stated, were carrying out the “usual” trans-border surveillance to ensure the disease did not cross into Kenya.

In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni on Monday warned people against physical contact after a patient was diagnosed with the virus in Kampala. He told Ugandans to avoid shaking hands and sexual promiscuity to avoid contracting the virus.

Two cases have since been reported in Kampala with one death at Mulago Hospital. Fourteen people have died of Ebola in the last three weeks in western Uganda.

President Museveni said the Ministry of Health was tracing all the people who had had contact with the victims.

Symptoms of the haemorrhagic killer virus are fever, vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea and bleeding.

In Busia, acting DC John Maingi said the government had put in place necessary measures along the Kenya-Uganda border to curb the spread of the virus.

He said a rapid response team had been formed to help implement measures aimed at ensuring the disease did not enter Kenya.

Mr Maingi said at the launch of the team on Monday that it would disseminate information to the public concerning the virus, screen visitors and enhance surveillance along the border town.

“We are determined to put in place precautionary measurers to ensure Ebola, which has been reported in the neighbouring Uganda, does not spread into the country,” he said.

District public health officer Ambrose Fwamba said an isolation bay had been set up at the border so that visitors with the virus could be isolated.

“We started screening people entering the country on Sunday evening and we are specifically targeting people from Nyasinga village of Kibale district in western Uganda,” he said.

Mr Fwamba assured the public that the local district hospital was well-equipped to undertake the screening.

“We have adequate personnel deployed to the border point to ensure that every passenger is screened before entering the country,” he said.

Health workers have also been notified to report patients exhibiting symptoms of Ebola immediately.