As of May 30, 263 confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya said.
More than 1,100 suspected cases are being investigated and 43 people are confirmed to have died as a result of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Kaseya said in an FT op-ed published on Sunday.
Uganda
As of May 31, Uganda had recorded nine confirmed Ebola cases, including two new infections reported in the latest update, according to the Ministry of Health.
Six cases remained active, one person had died and one had recovered. Health authorities were also monitoring about 500 contacts of infected patients, with the virus carrying an incubation period of up to 21 days.
Here are a few other details:
• Kesaya said national incident systems must be activated rapidly, and investments in pandemic preparedness must become permanent
• International partners play an essential role, but their support matters most when it aligns with strategies that are built by African institutions and African governments, he said
• The Ebola outbreak – the 17th in Democratic Republic of Congo and the third-largest since Ebola was discovered half a century ago – is outpacing the global response
• Health officials and aid workers say they lack even basic supplies such as masks after the outbreak spread was undetected for weeks
• The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern