By Elias Biryabarema and Olivia Le Poidevin
KAMPALA/GENEVA, June 2 (Reuters) – Uganda has confirmed six more new cases of Ebola, bringing the total confirmed in the country so far to 15, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as the U.N. migration agency warned that border closures may increase the risk of the virus spreading.
Uganda’s health ministry said in a statement on its X account that the six new cases were contacts of other confirmed cases. It said to date there were two discharges from hospital, with 12 people admitted and one death.
The U.N. International Organization for Migration meanwhile warned that border closures between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo may push people towards less monitored informal crossing points, increasing the risk of further spread of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus.
Uganda has closed its border with Congo, which is at the centre of the Ebola outbreak, to try to limit the spread of the virus.
However, the IOM said its monitoring data showed people were still crossing borders, adding that this reinforced the need for regional coordination rather than isolated national measures to contain the outbreak.
“The confirmation of cross-border transmission of the virus in the DRC and Uganda is a stark reminder that disease surveillance is only as strong as the weakest point along a shared border,” Zoe Brennan, an IOM spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva.
Alan Kasujja, a Uganda government spokesperson, told Reuters that the government was trying to protect its citizens, adding that it was not unexpected that some people might try to bypass official border crossings.
“But the communities along the borders are sensitized on the Ebola situation and they will do everything to protect themselves,” he said.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday there were 321 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Congo outbreak and 116 suspected cases.
(Reporting by Elais Biryabarema in Kampala and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Aidan Lewis)
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