By Anzoo Evaline.

The Ebola District Task Force in Adjumani has urged the general public to remain vigilant and strictly follow the Standard Operating Procedures to avoid infection as the country continues to register new Ebola cases.

Speaking during the district task force meeting, the Resident District Commissioner of Adjumani, Toko Swaib, said government and the Ministry of Health are continuing with efforts to contain the outbreak.

“We have continued to receive threat of Ebola and ministry is doing everything possible to contain it. We have received instructions about the public gatherings. Dear task force committee let’s do our part?” Toko said.

He added that initially the arrangements focused on districts bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo but noted that the threat has now spread across the country.

“Initially the arrangement started with the border districts especially those borders in DRC Congo. But we it’s now everywhere and the task force is supposed to be formed as we are formed here and we also have these meetings,” he added.

The District Surveillance Focal Person, Olanya Paul, revealed that Uganda continues to receive periodic outbreak reports with new cases already confirmed among health workers.

“Periodically we get special reports for the outbreaks. the last special report was on Tuesday 26th. Two new cases were reported, and the two were Ugandan health workers who attended to a DRC national. The first case that died was attended by these health workers. And we will see surely in the report the disease is going to hit most health workers,” Olanya explained.

He further said the outbreak is no longer limited to imported infections.

“So, the total cases currently in the outbreak are seven with three imported cases meaning the other four are the Ugandans. So locally the disease has started spreading and that is where the problem is,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Acen Caroline working with the Office of the Prime Minister said measures have already been strengthened at the refugee reception centers to reduce overcrowding and improve coordination.

“We operationalized our settlement task force meeting on Friday at the reception center specifically. So, these were the key action points from our last meeting from the reception center. We plan for a weekly coordination meeting just like this one which will be on every Tuesday because it will feed into this meeting,” Acen said.

She noted that crowd control remains a major concern especially during food distribution and registration of refugees.

“Then we noted that there were crowd control issues at the reception center during when these POCs are getting their food. So, we also had an action point on that to see how the team can walk around to see That’s these refugees do not get coming numbers to get this food and during registration as well,” she added.

The District Police Commander of Adjumani, Masembe Harbert, called for engagement with religious institutions even before any government directive on public gatherings is issued.

“The government has not pronounced itself on public gathering. For example, churches attract a lot of people and even mosques for prayers. Before that position is taken, we need also to engage them either by someone in home through their leaders and we tell them what they should put in place. Then for us we monitor see that it is enforced,” Masembe said.

Representing the LC5 Chairperson, the Secretary for Social Works, Mali Kenndy, emphasized that the fight against Ebola requires collective effort from all stakeholders and implementing partners.

“It’s a fight for all of us. As a district, we cannot handle, but when we you chip in as implementing partners and all the stakeholders, we shall be in position to do the needful. Uh, we have been here talking about uh resources mobilization, but we here are the resources. Okay? We need to be very vigilant as we fight Ebola,” Mali said.

The task force members concluded by calling upon communities to remain alert, avoid unnecessary contact, observe hygiene measures, report suspected cases early, and cooperate with health authorities as the district intensifies efforts to prevent the spread of Ebola.

END.