By Alex Byakatonda
Kabale District, has revived the District Disease surveillance and
control committee, as one of the ways to first track, the spread of
the Ebola hemorrhagic virus, following the confirmation of its
outbreak in Mubende district early this week.
On Tuesday this week, the Ministry of Health permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, told a media briefing that Uganda Virus Research
Institute had confirmed the Sudan ebolavirus, after testing a sample taken from a 24-year-old male. She added that before his death, the 24year old man showed signs and symptoms of Ebola, like high fever, diarrhea and abdominal pains and was also vomiting blood.
Now, an emergency taskforce meeting, which sat on friday in the district boardroom at Makanga hill in Kabale municipality and chaired by the Kabale Resident district Commissioner, Godfrey Nyakahuma, resolved to put in place measures to help in curtailing the spread of the Ebola disease. The measures include, constituting case management and surveillance teams, and also to improve on surveillance and community mobilization as well as monitoring and enforcing of health guidelines against the spread of the disease.
Nyakahuma added that the meeting followed reports that some residents of Kabale district, recently went to Mubende District, which is the epicenter of the disease for burial of their relatives and returned back to the district.
He added that there are other intelligence reports, which further
indicate that some residents of Kisoro district, who recently went to attend the burial of some of the Ebola suspected cases in Mubende district and are currently staying in Kabale town, after the Kisoro district security and health teams intensified surveillance.
The Kabale district Health Officer, Dr Gilbert Arineitwe Mateeka, said that the Covid-19 standard operating procedures like regular hand washing and social distancing have been re-instated to further forestall stop the spread of Ebola disease.
Nyakahuma directed the Kabale municipal authorities to ensure that all markets and other public places in the town have washing facilities.
He also odered the Kabale Municipal authorities and the traffic police to organize a meeting with drivers of all public service vehicles plying the Kabale-Mubende and other routes to Tooro sub region, so that they are sensitized on the preventive measures.
