Uganda calls for travel restrictions to be lifted after last Ebola patient discharged

A health worker at the isolation centre in Mulago, Kampala, where the last Ebola patient in Uganda was treated before being discharged on Thursday. Photograph: Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters View image in fullscreen A health worker at the isolation centre in Mulago, Kampala, where the last Ebola patient in Uganda was treated before being discharged on Thursday. Photograph: Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters Uganda calls for travel restrictions to be lifted after last Ebola patient discharged Country begins 42-day countdown to outbreak being declared officially over, as numbers continue to rise in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo Uganda has started lobbying countries to lift Ebola-related travel restrictions after discharging its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital. The discharge of a Congolese national from the Mulago national referral hospital’s isolation centre in Kampala on Thursday triggered the start of a 42-day countdown required by the World Health Organization before Uganda can officially be declared Ebola-free, provided no new infections are detected. The outbreak in the country infected 20 people and claimed two lives. Fifteen countries continue to maintain either partial or full travel restrictions on Uganda after the outbreak, measures the government said have crippled tourism, trade and business, despite the country’s relatively successful response. “As we make progress in managing this disease, we are engaging and asking those countries with a view to opening up so that the economy does not get injured,” Uganda’s health minister, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, said after the ceremony marking the release of the last patient. Baryomunsi said the country was not yet Ebola-free – under WHO guidelines, countries must complete two consecutive 21-day incubation periods without recording a new case before an outbreak can officially be declared over. “This is an imported outbreak. We remain on high alert because what we are celebrating here is different from what is happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” he said. The DRC reported ⁠on Thursday that ⁠the ​number ‌of ‌confirmed ‌cases in the country had ‌risen to ​2,073, including ⁠796 ​deaths, as ​of ​14 July. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, was first declared by the WHO on 17 May. Uganda’s outbreak has been markedly different from previous Ebola emergencies in the region, with only two deaths and 20 confirmed infections including 15 Congolese nationals, four health workers and one driver. WHO’s representative in Uganda, Dr Kasonde Mwinga, said the country’s response demonstrated the value of sustained investment in epidemic preparedness. “The case fatality rate of less than 10% is among the lowest recorded in Ebola outbreaks because the lowest has always been 30%. That is not by luck. It is because people invested in preparedness,” she said. Mwinga said Uganda had established treatment facilities, trained emergency medical teams and pre-positioned medical supp