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Covid-style lockdowns have been extended in Ebola-stricken Uganda as the deadly virus continues to spread.
More than 50 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak started in the central district of Mubende in mid-September. Ebola has since spread to six other parts of the east African nation, including the capital Kampala.
Officials imposed a three-week lockdown on Mubende and neighbouring Kassanda on October 15.
Restrictions were due to end on Saturday but officials extended them for another three weeks.
It means more than 400,000 people have been ordered not to leave their homes overnight or travel for personal reasons. Markets, bars and churches have also been closed.
World Health Organization officials say there is a high risk of Ebola spreading further and have called on neighbouring countries to boost their preparedness.
There are no drugs or vaccines proven to work against the circulating Sudan strain, which Uganda hadn’t detected since 2012.
President Yoweri Museveni ordered the initial local lockdowns but has rejected calls for nationwide restrictions.
However, he has ordered the police to arrest anyone infected with Ebola who refuses to isolate.
The country’s latest daily Ebola update shows that 132 cases and 51 deaths had been confirmed by Saturday. This gives a case-fatality ratio of 39 percent. However, dozens more are thought to be infected but have gone under the radar due to a lack of testing, meaning that fewer than four in 10 infections die from the virus.
The majority of cases detected so far have been in Mubende (65), located 145km west of Kampala.
Other hotspots are Kassanda (41), 50km east of Mubende, and Kampala itself (18).
The cases in the capital have caused alarm as they are spread out across the city — raising fears the virus is spreading undetected.
On top of these confirmed cases, virus teams are monitoring more than 1,200 close contacts in seven parts of the country.
It comes after the WHO warned last week that there is a “high” risk of the virus spreading to neighbouring countries, including Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan.
The UN agency is helping nearby nations to prepare for an outbreak, training rapid response teams and lab staff, as well as boosting virus surveillance systems.
The WHO warned there is a “very high” risk of a “serious public health impact” in Uganda and a “high” risk about neighbouring countries. However, it said the global risk was “low”.
It is in discussions about rolling out vaccines in Uganda that are being developed to work against the Sudan strain of Ebola.
Three vaccines are under review, with committees in the east African nation currently reviewing the proposals.
The first fatality in the current outbreak was a 24-year-old man in Mubende. Deaths have also included a pupil, as well as a mother and unborn baby.
Ebola is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it was discovered in 1976.
The virus is mainly transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.
It naturally resides in fruit bats, monkeys and porcupines living in the rainforest, and can also be transmitted through eating uncooked ‘bushmeat’.
Ebola outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.
People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.
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