Uganda has declared that is it now officially free from Ebola, the country's Health Ministry said two months after an outbreak of the deadly virus claimed at least 16 lives.

Not all those infected with the virus die, and while there is no cure for the virus transmitted by close contact and through bodily fluids, doctors can treat Ebola symptoms which include diarrhea and vomiting.

"The Ministry of Health has ... officially declared an end of the Ebola outbreak that broke out in Kibaale district in July. This follows completion of the 42 days of the post-Ebola surveillance countdown period which is a pre-requisite of the World Health Organization," the government agency said in a statement released late Thursday.

The first confirmed case of the Ebola outbreak was on July 28 in Kibaale district, 100 miles west of the Uganda's capital Kampala, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo where the virus first surfaced in 1976. Uganda has endured several Ebola outbreaks. The biggest outbreak was in 2000 when more than half of the 425 people infected died.

While officials never said what triggered the latest outbreak, much of Kibaale district is covered with tropical forests which contain bats, monkeys and chimpanzees that experts believe act as carriers of the Ebola virus. Despite warnings by the government, some of the residents in Kibaale occasionally kill and eat the chimpanzees and monkeys living in the area.

The World Health Organization reported that an Ebola outbreak that started in August has killed 31, including five health workers in Uganda's neighboring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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