A statement from Donald Trump’s White House claiming they had set up treatment centres in ‘Ebola-affected’ areas of Uganda has been denied by the country’s health ministry
The Ugandan government has said they are ‘not aware’ of any new Ebola treatment centres in their country after Donald Trump’s White House claimed to have set them up.
In a statement earlier this week, the US Department of State announced it was “funding up to 50 treatment clinics” in “Ebola-affected regions of the DRC and Uganda” amid the current outbreak in Central Africa, which has left 131 dead and more than 530 infected.
But last night, the Ugandan ministry of health denied that any treatment centres had been set up and insisted the “country remains safe”, with the two recorded fatalities being patients “imported” from the DR Congo.
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They wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “The Ministry of Health has not been engaged on the establishment of the treatment centres referred to here, and we are therefore not aware of where they may have been set up within the country.
“We continue to affirm that Uganda has so far registered only two imported Ebola cases: one fatality and one patient currently responding well to treatment under close medical care. There are no local infections and the country remains safe.”
It comes as questions build over whether the initial statement – which lauded $23 million in “bilateral foreign assistance” for both DR Congo and Uganda – was fully fact-checked.
The update on Tuesday added: “Today, the United States announced a broad commitment to rapidly support the response by funding up to 50 treatment clinics, and associated frontline costs being established in Ebola-affected regions of the DRC and Uganda.
“These rapidly deployed clinics will enable implementing partners to establish clinical care and containment perimetres around affected areas. Clinics will provide.”
Trump’s White House has meanwhile banned anyone who has recently travelled to either country from entering the US – unless they land at Washington Dulles International Airport subject themselves to “enhanced screening”.
On Thursday, US Customs and Border Protection said an Air France flight bound for Detroit was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the Congo boarded a flight in Paris “in error” due to the flight restrictions.
A spokesperson for the agency says the passenger “should not have boarded” the plane on Wednesday due to U.S. entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of Ebola spreading.
The spokesman said in an email officials “took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveler from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada.”
Air France said the Congolese passenger was denied entry into the U.S. due to new regulations that travelers from certain countries, including the Congo, can enter only through Washington DC.
