Rwanda limits funeral sizes due to Marburg virus outbreak

Rwandan authorities have restricted funeral sizes for victims of Marburg virus in an effort to curb an outbreak of the highly contagious disease.

Eight people have died during Rwanda’s first outbreak of the virus, which was confirmed on Friday by the nation’s health ministry.

Marburg, with a fatality rate of up to 88%, is from the same virus family as Ebola. It spreads to humans from fruit bats and then through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals.

In new guidelines to halt the spread of Marburg, the health ministry said no more than 50 people should attend the funeral of a person who died from the disease.

“Normal business and other activities” can continue in the East African country, said the advisory, published on Sunday evening.

However, it also urged the public to avoid close contact with “symptomatic individuals”. The ministry listed symptoms such as fever, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhoea.

The virus can cause death through extreme blood loss.

The health ministry’s guidelines said hospital patients would not be permitted visitors for the next 14 days.

Patients will also only be allowed one caregiver at a time, the guidelines said.

In numerous developing countries, patients’ loved ones perform basic care tasks – such as washing and feeding – that are typically performed by a nurse in other countries.

On Saturday, when the official death toll was six, Rwanda’s health minister said most of the victims were healthcare workers in a hospital intensive care unit.

Dr Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that curbing the virus’s spread may be challenging as most reported cases have been in the densely populated capital city, Kigali, while previous outbreaks have often been in remote rural areas where they are are easier to contain.

However, she added that there is hope as Rwanda has “a lot better infrastructure and history of public health coordination that many other countries”.

Rwanda said it was intensifying contact tracing, surveillance and testing to help contain the spread.

The country’s health minister said on Sunday that officials were tracking about 300 people who had come into contact with individuals affected by the Marburg virus.

The authorities have urged the public to practice good hygiene, such as frequent hand washing.

This is the first time Marburg has been confirmed in Rwanda.

Neighbouring Tanzania reported an outbreak in 2023, while three people died in Uganda in 2017.