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Congo's Ebola outbreak remains a global emergency, WHO says
The World Health Organization warned against taking "our foot off the accelerator" in responding to the Ebola outbreak in Congo while people focus on another outbreak, coronavirus.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he accepted the unanimous advice of the emergency committee that Congo's Ebola epidemic still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. It has killed more than 2,200 people
"The world needs to continue to fund the Ebola response," he said at a media briefing in Geneva. "Taking our foot off the accelerator now could be a fatal mistake."
Any case could reiginite the epidemic, he said, calling the security situation in Eastern Congo extremely fragile.
Rebels have repeatedly attacked health workers struggling to contain the outbreak and people in communities who've never experienced the illness before remain wary of international aid workers.
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Congo hit by a second Ebola outbreak
Outbreak in Mbandaka is on the other side of country from ongoing outbreak
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jun 02, 2020 12:10 PM ET
Authorities in Congo announced a new Ebola outbreak in the western city of Mbandaka on Monday, adding to another epidemic of the virus that has raged in the east since 2018.
Six cases have been detected, four of which have died in the city, a trading hub of 1.5 million people on the Congo River with regular transport links to the capital Kinshasa.
Mbandaka is 1,000 km from an ongoing outbreak that has killed over 2,200 people in North Kivu province by the Uganda border, where containment efforts have been hampered by armed conflict.
The new outbreak is Congo's eleventh since the virus was discovered near the Ebola River in 1976.
"We have a new Ebola epidemic in Mbandaka," health minister Eteni Longondo told reporters. "We are going to very quickly send them the vaccine and medicine."
The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever and is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person, who suffers severe vomiting and diarrhea.
The discovery is a major blow for Congo, which has suffered three Ebola outbreaks since 2017. It is also combating a measles epidemic that has killed over 6,000 and COVID-19, which has infected over 3,000 and killed 71.
"This outbreak is a reminder that #COVID19 is not the only health threat people face," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.
The health ministry was two days away from declaring the end of the eastern North Kivu outbreak in April when a new chain of infection was confirmed. No new cases have been detected there in over 30 days.
Ebola was detected in Mbandaka in 2018, leading to fears it could spread fast there, or reach Kinshasa, which is home to 10 million people.
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Congo has no known Ebola cases for 1st time since July 2018
Officials celebrate woman's release from hospital, caution 2nd-deadliest outbreak not officially over.
The last patient being treated for Ebola in Congo was discharged on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, bringing the 19-month-old outbreak closer than ever to an end.
The patient's release from hospital in the eastern city of Beni, feted by hospital staff who sang, danced and drummed on trash cans, marks the first time there have been no active cases since the outbreak was declared at the start of August 2018.
In that period, the virus has killed 2,264 people and infected nearly 1,200 more, making it the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history. Only the 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa was deadlier, killing more than 11,000.
Congo has now gone 14 days without any new confirmed cases. The outbreak can be declared over once 42 days have passed without a new case — equivalent to two cycles of 21 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the developments as "very good news, not just for me, but for the whole world," at a briefing on Tuesday, and the United Nations-appointed co-ordinator for response efforts said he was stepping down to return to his job with the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo.
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