The Ugandan authorities have declared a three-week lockdown in at least two districts of the country over the outbreak of Ebola desease in the country.
Against this backdrop, bars, nightclubs, places of worship and entertainment centers are expected to be shut in Mubende and neighbouring Kassanda as a curfew has been declared in those areas.
Earlier, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, had said there was no need for such measures while insisting that Ebola was not an airborne virus so did not require the same measures as Covid-19.
He however stopped all movement in and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts for 21 days beginning from Saturday.
Cargo trucks will still be allowed to enter and leave the areas, but all other transport will be stopped.
However, the move became necessary after the latest outbreak killed 19 people among 58 recorded cases.
Although the real number of deaths and cases may be higher as some claimed.
Recall that tge outbreak began in early September in Mubende, about 80km (50 miles) from the capital Kampala, and has remained the epicentre of the disease.
“These are temporary measures to control the spread of Ebola,” he said in a televised address.
“We should all cooperate with authorities so we bring this outbreak to an end in the shortest possible time.”
The president had already ordered police to arrest anyone suspected of having the virus who refused to isolate.
Also, he forbid traditional healers from trying to handle cases. In previous outbreaks, healers have been associated with hotspots for spread of the virus.
The first recorded death in this outbreak was a 24-year-old man in Mubende. Six members of his family also died.
It later reached the capital Kampala, with one death recorded in October. But health officials said the city remained virus-free, as the man who died had travelled from Mubende.
This latest outbreak is of the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine. The Zaire strain, which killed 11,000 people in an outbreak across West Africa from 2013-2016, can be vaccinated against.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated material.
Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases internal or external bleeding.
It is said that the incubation period can last from two days to three weeks, and the virus can be associated with other illnesses, such as malaria and typhoid.