KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda is at “big risk” of the spread of a deadly Ebola virus outbreak from neighboring Congo, a senior health official said Thursday, even as he said the situation is “being handled well” there.
Uganda’s director of health services, Henry Mwebesa, said a day after the World Health Organization that Congo’s outbreak does not yet warrant being declared a global emergency but called for an “intensified” response.
Uganda is the most threatened as the risk of Ebola’s regional spread is “very high,” with confirmed cases discovered in recent weeks near the heavily traveled border. WHO has not recommended any travel restrictions.
Twice-weekly market days during which 10,000 Congolese cross into Uganda have put the country at “big risk,” Mwebesa said. Unofficial border crossing points also are a cause for concern.
The current outbreak of the highly infectious Ebola virus in northeastern Congo has had 185 confirmed cases, including 107 deaths. Congo’s health ministry has said millions of travelers have been checked for Ebola at various points of entry since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 1.
Mwebesa said 222 suspected cases of Ebola have been identified and isolated in Uganda among people from Congo but none have tested positive.