“The two new confirmed cases are Ugandan health workers working in a private facility in Kampala. Both patients have been admitted to the designated treatment unit and are now receiving care,” the health ministry said.
In a short statement, the ministry said that it was tracing the two individuals’ list of contacts and urged citizens “to immediately report anyone presenting symptoms” consistent with the virus to a health facility.
The World Health Organization director-general said on Sunday more than 900 suspected Ebola cases had been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of the outbreak, which it declared on May 15.
Last week, Uganda suspended all public transport to the DRC after confirming two cases of Ebola, one infection and one death, involving Congolese nationals who crossed the border.
Three further cases were confirmed in the country on Saturday – a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the DRC.
Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.
Meanwhile, residents of Mongbwalu in the DRC attacked a hospital overnight, demanding the body of a religious leader who died from the virus, officials there said on Monday.
Located in the unstable northeastern province of Ituri, Mongbwalu is where the current outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic fever was first detected on May 15.
“A group of young people attacked the hospital four times,” a hospital official said of the incident on Sunday night.
“They wanted to retrieve the body of a Catholic shepherd who had died of Ebola,” the official said.
He said the victim had been “a well-known local figure, a religious leader from Mongbwalu”, which is home to 130,000 people. (AFP)
