The Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC has registered a new case of the deadly Ebola Zaire. The emergency of the new case has thwarted the country’s efforts to be declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation-WHO on April 13, 2020.
The new case was registered in North Eastern DRC on Friday and is undergoing treatment, according to the WHO. The case was confirmed 52 days after the last case was reported.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa Regional Director, said "I am sad to hear of a new Ebola case in Northeastern DRC. We are on ground and will continue to work side by side with the ministry of health.”
DRC has been battling Ebola since August 2018, when an outbreak was declared in the country.
Similarly, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director General, said "This new case means that the country will not be able to announce an end of the outbreak as was planned for Monday.”
“We shall still be monitoring the situation in the country.”
As of April 5, 2020 over 3,450 people were infected with the disease and over 2,000 had succumbed to the disease. The country, just as many other countries worldwide is currently battling the COVID-19 outbreak.
It had 215 confirmed cases as of Friday and 20 deaths. The implication of the new case on countries neighboring DRC is still unclear since most of them are now focused on fighting COVID-19.
However, last year, Uganda’s Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, said the country would remain to be on high alert and enforce several precautionary measures such as screening at border points until DRC is declared Ebola free.
Contributed by Ahmed Wetaka, Kampala-Uganda
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