But it is also true that enforcement of lock-downs and curfews is a very fraught proposition. Over the weekend, some 31 people were arrested in the city of Kampala, with police claiming that at least 13 of them were Red Cross workers charged with safe burials of dead Ebola patients. The Red Cross says the 13 were at the rented home housing them in the city, after working late on a safe burial, and were in their front yard area, roasting a goat, as a "cleansing ritual" -- and having drinks to honor the dead, when the police took them in.
Technically, then the Red Cross workers were not breaking curfew or lockdown. Some of the other 20 or so separate arrestees apparently were -- they were at a bar. Earlier reports that the Red Cross workers were at a bar turned out to be inaccurate.
But that highlights the difficulty in a city of about 1.5 million people. Here's the latest from CIDRAP, in any event:
. . .[T]hough Uganda has experience responding to Ebola outbreaks and has taken quick actions, the lack of treatments and vaccines for the more rare Sudan Ebola strain that's fueling the outbreak poses a serious public health risk.
The WHO is revising its formal risk assessment, but said given the geographical expansion to urban settings, the risk to Uganda has been elevated from high to very high, and the risk to the region has been increased from low to high. It added that the global risk remains low.
Six neighboring countries have stepped up their readiness actions, including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania.
In Uganda, outbreak responders are monitoring over 2,150 contacts in 10 districts, with a follow-up rate of 88%. . . .
Now you know -- this is a tough, and developing situation. Out. . . smiling about lil' pumpkin goblins and Maribels.
नमस्ते
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