Kampala, July 16 (IANS) Uganda on Thursday discharged its last Ebola patient after the person tested negative for the virus, marking the start of the country’s 42-day countdown to declare the outbreak over if no new cases are detected.

Uganda’s Minister of Health, Chris Baryomunsi, presided over the symbolic discharge ceremony at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital, Kampala.

During the ceremony, Baryomunsi presented the patient with an Ebola discharge certificate stating that he no longer poses a risk of transmitting the virus after testing negative, Xinhua news agency reported.

“His current state of health does not constitute a danger to the community and can therefore return to his household and professional environment and continue with his normal activities,” the minister said.

“The community and the authorities are requested to accept him in order to promote his social reintegration,” he added.

Kasonde Mwinga, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Uganda, said the country was able to contain the outbreak because of its preparedness, noting that Ebola response teams remained on high alert throughout the response.

Mwinga said the country’s preparedness also helped keep the case fatality rate below 10 per cent, one of the lowest recorded in Ebola outbreaks.

According to the WHO, a country can declare an Ebola outbreak over after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case following the date on which the last confirmed patient is no longer capable of transmitting the virus. This occurs when the patient either recovers, tests negative and is discharged, or dies. If no new infections are confirmed during the 42-day period, the outbreak is officially declared over.

Uganda declared the outbreak on May 15 after a patient who had travelled from the neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the current outbreak, tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.

Since then, the country has recorded 20 confirmed cases, including 15 Congolese nationals and five Ugandans. Two of the infected patients died.

–IANS

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