Dar es Salaam. Minister of Health, Jenista Mhagma, announced Thursday that Tanzania is now officially free from Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on January 28, 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded – all deceased –, was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on January 20, 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
“Since the declaration of the outbreak, the government, in close collaboration with partners, implemented several initiatives to prevent the outbreak from spreading across the Biharamulo district [of Kagera],” Mhagama said in a statement. “We’re happy today to announce that those efforts paid off.”
The efforts include setting up coordination and response systems, with support partners, chiefly the World Health Organization (WHO), at the national and regional levels.
Authorities also reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1,000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. It also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
In a statement, WHO Tanzania hailed the milestone, with Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania, emphasising on the need for growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region, which he called “crucial” in mounting effective outbreak control measures.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Sagoe-Moses. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
WHO Tanzania said that measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks, building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response,
“WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services,” the organisation said in a statement.
READ MORE: Tanzania Issues Travel Advisory to Prevent Further Spread of Mpox
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
In her statement on Thursday, Minister Mhagama urged Tanzanians to continue to take necessary care to protect themselves against other outbreak diseases that currently threaten regional public health, including Ebola and Mpox.
On March 11, 2025, Tanzania issued a travel advisory after confirming two cases of Mpox, a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus.
“We, therefore, urge Tanzanians to continue cooperating with national health authorities so that we prevent these diseases from spreading in our communities,” urged Mhagama, who doubles as Peramiho MP (Chama cha Mapinduzi – CCM).
