The Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eteni Longondo, has announced a "new outbreak of the Ebola epidemic" in the northwest of the country.
"Four people have died," the minister told a news conference on Monday.
"The National Biomedical Research Institute has just confirmed to me that the samples taken from Mbandaka are positive for Ebola virus disease," he added.
The Ebola epidemic is still raging in the east of the country, which has killed 2280 people since August 2018.
The virus causes an acute and serious disease that often kills an inpidual if he or she does not receive good treatment in time.
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Ebola first appeared in 1976 amidst two outbreaks that erupted simultaneously, one in Nizara, Sudan and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of the Congo, which erupted in a village near the Ebola river from which the disease acquired its name.
4 Dead of New Ebola Outbreak
The virus is transmitted to human populations by coming into contact with the blood of infected animals, their secretions, their organs or other fluids from their bodies, such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, humans, forest antelopes, and porcupines found as dead or dead in rainforests.
"A new #Ebola outbreak detected in western #DRC, near Mbandaka, Équateur province. @MinSanteRDC has identified 6 cases, of which 4 people have died," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1267446244793888769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Febola-congo-declares-new-epidemic%2Fa-53651466
In the meantime, WHO is already on the ground in Mbandaka supporting the response to this outbreak, as part of capacity built during the 2018 outbreak. The team supported the collection and testing of samples, and reference to the national laboratory for confirmation.
“Contact tracing is underway. Work is ongoing to send additional supplies from North Kivu and from Kinshasa to support the government-led response. A further 25 people are expected to arrive in Mbandaka tomorrow,” WHO reported in a statement on Monday.
It’s noteworthy that the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported the infection of 3195, including 72 deaths, of the COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus.
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