Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic Of Congo Reports New Ebola Case, Dims Hope Of End To Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced that a new case of Ebola has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The announcement came just days before the country’s largest-ever outbreak was expected to be declared over after 52 days without a case.
The Ebola outbreak emerged in August 2018 and has since killed more than 2,200 people. Until Friday, no new cases had been registered since February 17. Usually, the WHO declares an epidemic over after 44 consecutive days without a new case.
The new Ebola case was confirmed in Beni, a town in eastern DRC. According to reports, the patient died on Thursday morning in a hospital after showing symptoms several days earlier.
“Preliminary information shows that he is a 26-year-old man in Beni territory,” the multisectoral committee for the response to the epidemic said in a statement.
“Our teams, in collaboration with the WHO, are already on the ground to deepen the investigations and implement public health actions,” the statement added.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus confirmed the new Ebola case in a tweet and ensured that the international health body remains committed as ever to working with the government, affected communities and its partners to end the outbreak.
“WHO has worked side by side with health responders from the DRC for over 18 months and our teams are right now supporting the investigation into this latest case,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adds challenges, we will continue this joint effort until we can declare the end of this Ebola outbreak together.”
The announcement comes at a time when cases of the novel coronavirus disease rose by the day in the country. By Friday, DRC had reported 205 cases with some of the patients including close members of the cabinet of President Felix Tshisekedi. Kinshasa also reported 20 deaths, one of the highest fatality rates in sub-Sahara Africa, and 13 recoveries.
