4 yıl önce

New Ebola outbreak in DRC kills 11, infects 17

Fresh infections surface in western province of Mbandaka as Democratic Republic of Congo's dilapidated health system battles both a measles epidemic and Covid-19.

Reuters Archive

WHO says more than 2,500 people have been vaccinated across the province.

Deadly virus Ebola has killed 11 people after infecting 17 in a new outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, medical authorities said on Monday.

The authorities had reported 12 infections last week in the central African country, whose dilapidated health system is also combating a measles epidemic that has killed over 6,000 people and Covid-19, which has infected over 4,800 and killed 112.

The National Institute of Biomedical Research said in its daily report that there had now been 14 confirmed Ebola cases and three probable cases since a cluster of infections were confirmed in the western province of Mbandaka on June 1.

Positive and not so positive news on the Ebola front in the DRC:

47 days without any new Ebola cases in North Kivu/Ituri.
(Outbreak began August 2018).

Mbandaka outbreak:
17 cases (14 confirmed, 3 probable)- an increase of 3 since the 11th June update.
Deaths: 11 (up by 2) pic.twitter.com/8uJMNJvCKO
— Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) June 15, 2020

Two different outbreaks

The Ebola cases have been confirmed in seven health zones across Equateur, including two cases in Bolomba, 300 km northeast of Mbandaka, the World Health Organization said in an update.

The WHO said more than 2,500 people have been vaccinated across the province.

Vaccination helped control an Ebola outbreak 1,000 km away in the east of the country, which had seen more than 2,200 deaths from the virus since 2018.

Genetic sequencing shows the new outbreak of Ebola, a virus that was discovered near northern Congo's Ebola River in 1976, is not linked to the one in the east.