The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 48 cases of Ebola, including 31 deaths, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the country’s first outbreak in three years.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the figures on Thursday during a virtual briefing from Geneva, noting that the outbreak was declared in early September.
“Two weeks after the DRC government declared an Ebola outbreak, 48 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, and 31 people have died,” Tedros said.
The outbreak has been traced to Kasai Province, with Bulape identified as the epicentre. In response, WHO has begun vaccinating frontline health workers and contacts of confirmed patients, deploying 400 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine from the country’s stockpile of 2,000.
The organization has also delivered more than 14 tonnes of medical supplies, deployed experts to the affected region, and set up an Ebola treatment centre where 16 patients are currently being treated.
So far, more than 900 contacts have been identified and are under follow-up. Encouragingly, the first two patients to recover were discharged on Tuesday.
Ebola remains a recurring threat in the DRC’s dense tropical forests, which serve as a natural reservoir for the virus. The disease causes severe fever, body pain and diarrhoea, and is known to persist in the bodies of survivors, sometimes resurfacing years later.
