Kampala, Feb 3 (IANS): Uganda with support from the World Health Organisation (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 on Monday.

Henry Kyobe Bosa, Incident Commander at the Ministry of Health, said 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, Xinhua news agency reported.

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, Xinhua news agency reported.

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 organisation also noted that case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41 per cent to 100 percent in past outbreaks.

Ebola is a rare but life-threatening illness. It can cause outbreaks of serious disease, especially in parts of Africa. You get it from contact with body fluids of infected animals or people. Symptoms include fever, headache, rash, vomiting and bleeding.

Ebola is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by several species of viruses from the genus Ebolavirus. Symptoms of Ebola start out flu-like but can progress to severe vomiting, bleeding and neurological (brain and nerve) issues.

Ebola can spread to people from bats, nonhuman primates and antelope. From there it can spread from human to human and cause outbreaks (where large numbers of people get infected around the same time). Outbreaks mostly happen in parts of Africa.