Following recent infections of the Ebola disease in schools, government through the Ministry of Education and Sports has with immediate effect suspended schools from having visitation days and leavers parties.
‘’As you are aware, the country is experiencing an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). This is a very serious disease that poses grave danger to us all if its spread is not effectively controlled. Institutions of learning are of particular concern because of the concentration of persons,’’ Ismael Mulindwa, the Director of Basic Education at the Ministry wrote.
He said following advice from the Ministry of Health and the National Taskforce, they saw it necessary to keep institutions of learning opened but with tightened measures.
‘’As per our earlier circular, the management of all learning institutions are required to take care to ensure effective Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) by strictly observing and implementing the Standard Operating Procedures provided by the Ministry of Health,’’ Mr. Mulindwa noted.
He said given that a number of positive cases have now been confirmed among learners from families of known contacts, it is necessary to strengthen the existing infection prevention measures at school level.
In this, he said the Ministry has with immediate effect called off school visitation days and leavers parties until the end of the current school term. In addition, he said learners in boarding institutions should also be discouraged from making non-essential trips out of the school.
‘’Once again, I would like to call upon all of you to observe heightened vigilance and effective implementation of the SOPs in order to control the spread of the Ebola disease and save lives,’’ he added.
This comes at a time when six pupils in Kampala tested positive for virus. The children from three different schools in Kampala are among at least 15 people in the city confirmed to have contracted Ebola, according to a statement by Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.
She said the children are members of a family exposed to the disease by a man who traveled from one Ebola-hit district, sought treatment in Kampala and died there.
“He is responsible for infecting the family of seven, including the neighbors and many others. We were able to get this cluster, plus one other, because of the ministry’s vigilance in contact tracing and field case management,” Minister Aceng added that authorities are still following up on 170 contacts from schools the six children attend.