WHO records 50 cases of Ebola virus in Congo

World Health Organisation has recorded nearly 50 cases of Ebola virus in Congo, evidencing the active existence of the virus.

While disclosing this on Monday July 13, 2020, WHO stated that not less 50 known cases were recorded in western Democratic Republic of Congo.

The newly confirmed cases were recorded across a large region bordering the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

WHO’s top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said that since authorities recorded the outbreak on June 2, 2020, 48 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s Equateur province, with a further 3 likely cases and a total of 20 deaths.

He explained further that the affected geographical area is a large province stretching out to part of River Congo and covering many communities where people travelled long distances.

“This is still a very active outbreak, and I would say it is a great concern,” Ryan told a news briefing.

Ryan cautioned it is important that people should also be careful about the other emerging diseases while ebola cases are low.

What happened in North Kivu and other previous cases of ebola outbreak are enough to learn from should these current cases get out of control.

“Recall that there was a separate outbreak of ebola in Ituri and North Kivu provinces of eastern Congo that was declared over last month,” he said.

The world’s second largest Ebola outbreak on record was declared over on 25 June, 2020.

So far, Congo Health authorities have recorded 3481 cases, being 3323 confirmed, 158 probable, with 2299 deaths from the outbreak of ebola disease.