KAMPALA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Uganda with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) has set up an 84-bed Ebola isolation and treatment facility in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, following the virus outbreak in the east African country, a health official said Monday.

Henry Kyobe Bosa, incident commander at the Ministry of Health, told Xinhua by telephone that the unit in Mulago National Referral Hospital will manage suspected and confirmed cases of the Sudan Ebola virus disease (SVD).

"We have set up an Ebola isolation unit at Mulago and deployed a [pre-trained] national emergency medical team to manage the cases at the facility," Bosa said. "The development of this isolation facility, the training and deployment of the emergency team has been supported by WHO in collaboration with the World Bank."

Another isolation unit in Mbale should be up and in operation by the end of Monday, according to Bosa.

Uganda last week declared an Ebola outbreak after a 32-year-old nurse succumbed to the disease. The Ministry of Health said 45 people who had contact with the deceased have been identified.

The Ministry of Health has urged the public to remain calm, saying it is in control of the situation and is committed to protecting all people against Ebola.

Data from the WHO showed that Uganda's last SVD outbreak started in September 2022 and ended in January 2023, with 164 cases and 77 deaths in the country.

The health organization also noted that case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41 percent to 100 percent in past outbreaks. Enditem

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