New Ebola Case Confirmed In The Democratic Republic Of Congo Days Before Outbreak To Be Declared Over
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a new case of Ebola virus disease on April 10th in the city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The announcement on Friday came just days before the country’s largest-ever outbreak was expected to be declared over.
The patient died on Thursday morning in a hospital after showing symptoms several days earlier, according to Aljazeera report.
The multisectoral committee for the response to the epidemic in a statement stated that;
Preliminary information shows that he is a 26-year-old man in Beni territory. Our teams, in collaboration with the WHO, are already on the ground to deepen the investigations and implement public health actions.
Until Friday, no new cases had been registered since February 17.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said;
While not welcome news, this is an event we anticipated. We kept response teams in Beni and other high risk areas for precisely this reason.
As part of the active Ebola surveillance system in place to respond to this ongoing outbreak in DRC, WHO reports that thousands of alerts are still being investigated every day.
An alert is a person who has symptoms that could be due to Ebola, or any death in a high risk area that could have been as result of Ebola.
As with all confirmed cases, efforts are already underway to find everyone who may have been in contact with the person in order to offer them the vaccine and monitor their health status.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said;
WHO has worked side by side with health responders from the DRC for over 18 months and our teams are right now supporting the investigation into this latest case.
Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adds challenges, we will continue this joint effort until we can declare the end of this Ebola outbreak together.
The news of the confirmed case after the conclusion of a meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Ebola in DRC.
According to WHO, the Emergency Committee will reconvene next week in order to re-evaluate their recommendations in light of this new information.
The country planned on Sunday to declare an end to the outbreak, which emerged in August 2018 and has since killed more than 2,200 people.
Prior to this, the last person who was confirmed to have Ebola in DRC tested negative twice and was discharged from a treatment centre on 3 March 2020.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a Twitter post said;
After 52 days without a case, surveillance & response teams on the ground have confirmed a new case. We have been preparing for and expecting more cases.
Today I convened a meeting of the Emergency Committee on #Ebola in #DRC. After 52 days without a case, surveillance & response teams on the ground have confirmed a new case. We have been preparing for and expecting more cases.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 10, 2020
He added that;
Unfortunately, this means the government of DRC will not be able to declare an end to the Ebola outbreak on Monday, as hoped. But WHO remains on the ground and committed as ever to working with the government, affected communities and our partners to end the outbreak.
Unfortunately, this means the government of #DRC will not be able to declare an end to the #Ebola outbreak on Monday, as hoped.
But @WHO remains on the ground and committed as ever to working with the government, affected communities and our partners to end the outbreak.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 10, 2020
As of 10 April 2020, 3456 confirmed and probable cases and 2276 deaths have occurred as a result of the outbreak.
