Uganda confirmed three new Ebola cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections in the current outbreak in the country to five, as authorities stepped up contact tracing efforts to stop the spread of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus.According to Uganda’s health ministry, the new cases include a driver who transported the country’s first confirmed Ebola patient and a health worker who contracted it while caring for that patient. Reuters reported that both were identified as known contacts and are currently undergoing treatment.The third confirmed case is a woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who entered Uganda with mild abdominal symptoms. Authorities said he traveled from Arua near the border to Entebbe before seeking treatment at a private hospital in Kampala.The ministry said the woman initially showed signs of recovery and returned to Congo, but later tested positive for Ebola after follow-up testing based on information from a pilot involved in transporting her.“All identified contacts linked to the confirmed cases are being closely monitored,” the ministry said, urging the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious symptoms.The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern and warned that the risk of a national epidemic in Congo remains “very high”.About 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths have been reported in Uganda’s neighbor Congo, which remains the epicenter of the outbreak.WHO has said that delayed detection, the absence of a vaccine or virus-specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, widespread armed violence and high mobility among the population have made Congo particularly vulnerable.It comes after WHO Africa Director Mohamed Yacoub Janabi warned on Friday against underestimating the outbreak, saying doing so would be a big mistake. “It would be a big mistake to underestimate this, especially with this strain of Bundibugyo virus, for which we do not have a vaccine,” he said.“So I would really encourage everyone, let’s help each other, we can get this thing under control,” he said.Janabi also said the Ebola outbreak in Congo has received relatively limited international attention compared to this month’s hantavirus outbreak involving cruise ship passengers from 23 countries.He further warned that a single Ebola contact case could trigger widespread transmission beyond Congo and Uganda, saying, “You just need one contact case to put us all at risk.”