Second Ebola death in Uganda, as virus spreads from DRC

A second patient who had tested positive for the Ebola virus in Uganda has died, according to a health ministry official on Thursday. This is the second fatality since the virus spread from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Health workers carry a woman admitted to the Ebola treatment centre in Butembo, DRC, not far from Uganda, in March 2019. Baz Ratner/Reuters

The victim, a 50-year-old woman, was the grandmother of the five-year-old boy who died on Tuesday.

They had travelled to DRC with their family for the burial of a relative, who was believed to have been infected by the virus.

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On Wednesday the health ministry said Uganda recorded three cases of Ebola infection, from the same familiy that travelled to DRC.

The third case is the boy's three-year-old brother.

The family has been quarantined in a hospital in Bwera, in Kasese district. Eight other people who had been in contact with them were also being monitored, and they are due to be vaccinated Friday with a new drug.

These are the first confirmed Ebola cases outside the DRC since an outbreak began there a year ago. More than 2,000 cases have been recorded in DRC, about two thirds of them fatal.