Uganda’s health ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said there is no Ebola outbreak in Uganda, allaying fears that had emerged after a suspect’s blood samples were sent to Kampala.

At the weekend, a woman was transferred from Adjumani hospital to St Mary’s Hospital Lacor and her blood samples sent to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe.

According to Dr Emmanuel Ochola, an epidemiologist at Lacor hospital, “Our first diagnosis was sepsis, but we needed to be very sure because it had turned out severe. The patient was bleeding a lot and we had to isolate her and take her blood sample to UVRI for confirmation whether it was Haemorrhagic fever or not.”

But on Tuesday, Innocent Komakech, WHO’s officer in charge of Disease Outbreak, Emergency and Preparedness, said: “The results for the sample from Lacor Hospital are negative for the Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers: Ebola, Marburg, CCHF, RVF and Sosuga.”

The patient is still being isolated at Lacor, according to Dr Ochola.

“We are still keeping the patient in isolation, but generally speaking, she is fine now.”