FILE PHOTO: The logo of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is pictured at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
KAMPALA (Reuters) – China National Offshore Oil Corp, or CNOOC, said on Thursday it had halted field work at its western Uganda project over an Ebola scare and that activities would resume after getting an all-clear from the country’s ministry of health.
“No activities for CNOOC in the area,” the firm’s spokeswoman, Aminah Bukenya, told Reuters. “Those in the camp are supposed to keep there until…the ministry of health deems it fit for operations to continue.”
A patient who was suspected of Ebola died at a health center in the area a few days ago, Bukenya said, triggering the decision. The death was determined not to be caused by Ebola by the health ministry, she said, but still the company will not resume work “for some time” for precautionary purposes.
Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Omar Mohammed and Christian Schmollinger
