The last Ebola patient in Uganda has been discharged from the hospital and the country is striving to achieve a zero-case situation

The Ministry of Health of the East African country Uganda announced that the last Ebola patient has been discharged from the hospital. This has initiated a 42-day countdown, after which the country can declare that it has overcome the Ebola epidemic.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health announced on the social media platform X on Thursday (July 16th) that "Today, the last Ebola patient in Uganda was discharged from the hospital. He is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has recovered. He is now preparing to reunite with his family."

Xinhua News Agency reported that at a ceremony held at the Murago National Referral Hospital, the Ugandan Minister of Health, Bariomonci, issued discharge certificates to the recovered patients, indicating that they no longer pose a risk of transmitting the Ebola virus and can resume their normal family life and work.

The World Health Organization representative in Uganda, Mwinga, said at the ceremony that Uganda was able to successfully control this round of the epidemic thanks to thorough pre-emptive preparations and the highly vigilant Ebola prevention team that maintained a high level of vigilance. He said that the fatality rate of this round of the epidemic in Uganda was at a relatively low level compared to previous Ebola outbreaks.

Reuters reported that on Wednesday, government spokesperson Kasujja said that the patient would be discharged from the isolation ward of Mulago National Referral Hospital in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

He wrote on the X platform: "Uganda is now in the countdown phase. If there are no new cases within 42 days, according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, we will be able to declare that Uganda is a country free of the Ebola virus."

Since mid-May, a total of 20 cases of Ebola infections caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus strain have been confirmed in Uganda. Among them, 15 patients were infected in the neighboring country of the Democratic Republic of Congo and then traveled to Uganda.

Unlike Congo where the epidemic is still surging, Uganda has not reported any new cases since June 22nd.

On Thursday, Congo reported 62 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,073. However, the World Health Organization pointed out that the actual number of infections could be at least twice this figure.