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Uganda has discharged its last Ebola patient, Reuters reported, citing a senior health official.

It raised hopes that the outbreak, which has claimed at least 56 lives, may be coming to an end.

Local officials confirmed in September the country's first Ebola outbreak and said it was the so-called "Sudanese strain" of the disease, which kills between 40 and 60 percent of those infected and for which there is no approved vaccine.

"I am happy to report that we have discharged the last patient with Ebola," Diana Atwine, a senior health ministry official, tweeted. She said medics will continue to monitor people who have been in contact with infected patients, and that monitoring will lasted 21 days. She did not clarify when the last confirmed case was registered, writes BTA.

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In October, the government restricted travel, imposed a curfew and closed places of worship and entertainment to bring the outbreak in central Uganda under control.

But then several cases were found in the capital and in the eastern part of the country.

Ebola causes vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea and is spread through contact with the body fluids of an infected person.

The virus can sometimes remain in the eyes, central nervous system and body fluids of those who have had the disease and reactivate years later.

Uganda recorded 142 infections during the latest outbreak.

The World Health Organization says it takes 42 days (twice the maximum incubation period for the virus, which is 21 days) in a country after the last confirmed case to declare the country Ebola-free.