Uganda announces lockdown as Ebola cases rise
Uganda’s army is massing in the east of the country as authorities battle an outbreak of the deadly virus.
Soldiers from the Uganda People’s Defence Force have been deployed to locations including Jinja, Mbale and other cities and towns of the eastern and central districts of the country.
The soldiers are already in place and preparing for deployment, a military spokesman said.
The spokesman said the deployment was for security training in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.
Meanwhile, the country announced on Thursday (11 May) that the death toll from the virus had risen by 30 to a total of 4,988.
The Uganda virus map
Health Ministry officials announced on Thursday that the Ebola virus had killed 2,924 people of which 1,636 died in the Kibaale district.
The national toll includes 3,858 who have died of the virus and who have been confirmed to have contracted it.
The other 2,912 infections that have been confirmed include 2,912 who have died and who have been confirmed to have contracted the virus and 2,068 who have yet to have been tested positive for the infectious disease.
In its daily update, the ministry said it had reported a total of 6,812 confirmed cases and that 581 of them had been treated.
Meanwhile, the ministry said in a statement that in its update the total number of people who needed hospitalization had risen to 5,098.
The virus has killed over 4,500 people in East Africa, according to the WHO.
The WHO’s latest update Thursday said that the number of countries with reported cases had risen to 7, and that the outbreak was spreading in other countries and regions with cases in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Uganda and Nigeria.
A Ugandan health worker tests a suspected Ebola patient in Mbale, Uganda, May 09, 2018. REUTERS/Suleiman Dagaba
But it also said the number of new cases of infection had been falling in the region.
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