After 8 children died from Ebola, Uganda will close schools early

According to the education minister, the cabinet has decided to close preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools beginning November 25.

Schools in Uganda will close two weeks before the end of the school year after 23 Ebola cases were confirmed among students, including eight deaths.

Education Minister Janet Kataha Museveni announced on Tuesday that the cabinet had decided to close preschools, primary schools. And secondary schools on November 25 due to the high risk of infection among students in densely packed classrooms.

“Closing schools earlier will reduce concentration areas where children are in daily close contact with fellow children, teachers, also other staff who could potentially spread the virus,” said the minister. Who is also the wife of longtime President Yoweri Museveni.

Ugandan students are in their third and final academic year term.

On Saturday, the government extended a three-week lockdown on the neighboring districts of Mubende and Kassanda, which have been at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.

Among the measures are a curfew from dusk to dawn, a ban on personal travel. Also the closure of markets, bars, also churches.

Since the outbreak was declare in Mubende on September 20. The disease has spread throughout the country, including to Kampala, the capital. Still, the president has stated that nationwide restrictions are unnecessary.

According to government figures release on Sunday, 135 people have been infect with Ebola, with 53 deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported last week that Uganda had more than 150 confirmed and probable cases, with 64 fatalities. The last recorded death in Uganda from a previous Ebola outbreak occurred in 2019.

The virus circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain, for which no vaccine has been develop. As opposed to the more common Zaire strain, which spread during recent outbreaks in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.