Feb. 11, 2025

Ugandan health ministry on Tuesday announced that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda has risen to nine from three.

The East African country declared an outbreak of the severe, often fatal viral infection in January.

The latest outbreak is being driven by the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine.

Uganda’s health ministry said in a statement on Monday that of the nine confirmed cases one person had died.

Seven were being treated in a hospital in the capital Kampala and one was in a hospital in the eastern city of Mbale, near the Kenyan border.

The ministry said all eight patients are in stable condition, and 265 contacts of the confirmed cases have been placed under quarantine.

World Health Organisation said Uganda has launched a trial vaccination programme against the Sudan strain of Ebola.

Existing vaccines are for the Zaire strain of Ebola, which was behind recent outbreaks in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

REUTERS