The World Health Organization has declared Uganda Ebola-free even as the bordering Democratic Republic of Congo faces a deadly, fast-growing epidemic that has killed at least 2,744 people, among 5,713 confirmed cases, according to local health authorities.
The Ebola outbreak declared May 15, which began in Congo, killed two people in Uganda, among 20 infected there. Fifteen of those cases originated in Congo, with five transmitted locally in Uganda, according to health officials.
Uganda has since gone at least 42 days without a new infection. The country’s final patient was discharged from hospital care July 16.
Ugandan authorities had declared the country Ebola-free in July, but the WHO announcement came Wednesday, in accordance with international health guidelines.
“The completion of the 42-day period, equivalent to twice the upper limit of the incubation period for Ebola, is a critical step, as it provides an additional safeguard that no chains of transmission associated with the last imported case have been missed,” the WHO said in a statement. At a regional WHO meeting in Addis Ababa, Marie Roseline Belizaire, director of emergency response preparedness for the WHO in Africa, called for a round of applause.
Experts warn that the ongoing epidemic centered in Congo is on track to surpass the largest Ebola outbreak in history. That was the West African outbreak of 2014 to 2016, which killed about 11,000 people.
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