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A 50-year-old woman infected with Ebola has died in western Uganda, a day after her five-year-old grandson died.

They are the first cases reported there since the virus spread over the border from Democratic Republic of Congo, where nearly 1,400 people have died.

Three suspected Ebola patients have also run away from an isolation centre in south-western Uganda.

The head of a major medical charity has called the latest outbreak of Ebola in central Africa “truly frightening”.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, said the epidemic was the worst since that of 2013-16 and has showed “no sign of stopping”.

He said the spread was “tragic but unfortunately not surprising”. He warned that more cases were expected, and a “full” national and international response would be needed…