Uganda's health minister described a "moment of joy" as the country's last Ebola patient was released from hospital two weeks ago. This follows a total of 20 recorded cases and two deaths from the virus in Uganda.
In contrast, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has become the second-worst on record, with the official death toll exceeding 1,500. Authorities in DR Congo confirmed on Thursday that the virus is spreading more rapidly than in previous outbreaks.
Dr. Kasonde Mwinga, the World Health Organization's Uganda chief, stated that Uganda's relatively low number of casualties was due to investment in preparedness. This included activating a specialist Ebola treatment centre in Kampala and quarantining over 6,000 contacts of infected individuals for 21 days.
Uganda also closed its border with DR Congo to help prevent the spread of the disease. Officials in Uganda say that lessons learned from past outbreaks have enabled them to contain the disease on various occasions.