The Democratic Republic of the Congo's government announced today, that a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease is happening in Wangata health zone in the Equateur province, reported ANI.
So far, the country's Ministry of Health has informed that six Ebola cases have been detected in Wangata, out of which four people have died and the other two are still under care.?
According to the World Health Organisation, three of these six cases have been confirmed with laboratory testing."This is a reminder that COVID-19 is not the only health threat people face," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "Although much of our attention is on the pandemic, WHO is continuing to monitor and respond to many other health emergencies."?
This is Congo's 11th outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976.
WHO Regional Director for Africa said,?"It's happening at a challenging time, but WHO has worked over the last two years with health authorities, Africa CDC and other partners to strengthen national capacity to respond to outbreaks. To reinforce local leadership, WHO plans to send a team to support scaling up the response. Given the proximity of this new outbreak to busy transport routes and vulnerable neighbouring countries, we must act quickly."?
Presently, WHO is already on the ground in Mbandaka responding to the virus outbreak. Contact tracing is also being worked on. According to WHO, the existence of the virus in an animal reservoir in many parts of the country is leading to new outbreaks of the disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.