DRC Health Authorities Officially Declare An End To Latest Ebola Outbreak In Beni

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) health authorities Thursday officially declared an end to the latest Ebola outbreak in the country, reported News 24.

The health authorities announced the start of the latest outbreak on October 8 after a three-year-old boy died in Beni, North Kivu province in the eastern DRC. 8 more cases and nine deaths in the area were reported over the next two months, with more than half of the cases involving children under the age of five. In total, 11 cases, including six deaths, were reported since the first case was confirmed in Beni at the beginning of October.

The authorities declared an end of the outbreak after no new cases were reported at the end of 42 days, which is the equivalent of two incubation periods since the last confirmed case was discharged.

Health Minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani said the health authorities in the area detected the outbreak late because of a strike. He declared the outbreak officially over on Thursday.

“After 42 days of reinforced surveillance without a new confirmed case… I am happy to declare the end of the 13th epidemic of the Ebola virus disease” in North Kivu, Mbungani said in Kinshasa.

The DRC health minister congratulated health workers in the health zone of Beni who have suspended their strike movement to cope with the epidemic.

It was the DRC’s 13th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976, and second this year.

The outbreak was declared Oct. 8 following the death of a child in North Kivu Province. It closely followed a 3-month outbreak that was declared over in May after 12 cases and six deaths.  Both outbreaks erupted in the same area where a 2-year long outbreak, which ended in June 2020, infected more than 3,400 people and killed more than 2,200.