Uganda Shortens School Term As Ebola Cases, Death Toll Surges

Due to the increasing number of cases of Ebola in the country, the Uganda government declared it would shorten the school term by two weeks.

According to the country’s Minister of Education, Janet Kataha Museveni, the decision will reduce daily contact among students and help to contain the spread of the disease.

Naija News reports that Ebola is a virus that causes severe bleeding and organ failure and can lead to death.

The disease is transmissible to other humans through contact with bodily fluids such as blood.

According to experts, initial symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, muscle pain and chills. Later, a person may experience internal bleeding resulting in vomiting or coughing blood.

The Ugandan authority is understood to have been struggling to contain the highly infectious and deadly haemorrhagic fever since the epidemic spread into the capital Kampala, home to around two million people.

As of Monday, the country had recorded a total of 135 confirmed cases and 53 deaths, the health ministry disclosed in a report.

Museveni said on Monday that the cabinet had decided to close preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools on November 25 because densely packed classrooms made students highly vulnerable to infection.

“Closing schools earlier will reduce areas of concentration where children are in daily close contact with fellow children, teachers, and other staff who could potentially spread the virus,” Museveni said in a statement.

Naija News understands that Students in Uganda are currently in their third and final term for the calendar year, at the end of which they sit for promotional exams.

Museveni, who is also the wife of Uganda’s president, expressed concerns about the epidemic, noting that 23 cases have been confirmed among children, of which eight have died.