Second Ebola Victim Dies in Uganda

A 50-year-old woman infected with Ebola has died in western Uganda, a day after her five-year-old grandson died.

They are the first cases reported there since the virus spread over the border from Democratic Republic of Congo, where nearly 1,400 people have died.

Three suspected Ebola patients have also run away from an isolation centre in south-western Uganda.

The head of a major medical charity has called the latest outbreak of Ebola in central Africa “truly frightening”.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, said the epidemic was the worst since that of 2013-16 and has showed “no sign of stopping”.

He said the spread was “tragic but unfortunately not surprising”. He warned that more cases were expected, and a “full” national and international response would be needed to protect lives.

On Friday the World Health Organization (WHO) will decide whether the outbreak should now be deemed a global health emergency.

The grandmother had lived in DR Congo, where her husband recently died of Ebola. Her daughter had travelled from Uganda, where she lives with her Ugandan husband, to the Congolese town of Beni with her children to help care for him.

After the grandfather died they all travelled on Sunday to Uganda’s Kasese district, where the five-year-old son and his grandmother then subsequently became sick and later died.

The three-year-old son is now confirmed to have Ebola. He, his parents and two of his siblings have been repatriated at their request to DR Congo, Uganda’s health ministry says.

Twenty-seven people are said to have been in contact with the three confirmed cases in Uganda. They have been restricted to their homes and will be vaccinated against Ebola.