The government, through the Ministry of Health, has issued an alert notice to all health workers in the country as well as to the public on increased surveillance due to the Ebola threat.
This is after the deadly disease was confirmed in Kasese western Uganda when a 5-year-old boy who had travelled with the family from Congo tested positive.
Two other people from Uganda were also confirmed to be infected with Ebola that has been ravaging through Congo since August 2018.
The government also increased the screening of persons who were travelling from Uganda to the country via the Busia one-stop border and Malaba.
According to Joshua Arusei, who is the Port Health Services officer more than 300 travellers had been screened since the outbreak was reported on Wednesday.
He added officers were examining all travellers from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The health officers were said to be using temperature guns to measure the temperature of the travellers so as to avoid direct contact with the subjects.
“We are also checking travel records using passports before allowing the travellers into the country” Arusei explained, adding the department was ready for eventualities.
He further went on to state that all persons that were found to have temperatures that exceeded 38 degrees were quarantined at the Busia County Referal Hospital.
People infected with Ebola do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.
High fever, weakness, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and a sore throat are often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, skin eruptions, kidney and liver failure, internal and external bleeding.
The ministry asked the public to be vigilant and report suspected cases of the virus to the nearest health facilities or through its emergency operations centre via hotlines 0732 353535 and 0729 471414.
