EBOLA OUTBREAK: Five regions at highest in Tanzania identified

The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children has identified five regions at highest risk being affected by the outbreak of Ebola disease due to high interaction.

The regions identified are Kagera, Mwanza, Kigoma, Geita and Mara.

Speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu mentioned other regions which are at medium risk are Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Songwe because of direct flights to those regions.

“But the good news is that no Ebola case has been recorded, so far,” she said.

The minister said that that the National Task Force on Public Health Events, comprising of experts from different sectors, has been convened to coordinate and supervise country’s preparedness in tackling the disease.

She ordered every Regional Commissioner (RC) to have in contingency plan for fighting the epidemic, which has so far claimed lives in 23 people in Uganda, with 43 reported cases.

By September26 Uganda’s ministry of health reported that 43 cases were identified and 23 deaths occurred.

A total of 400 contacts have also been identified, out of which 127 have been kept under isolation.