A new outbreak of Ebola has been confirmed in the remote Congo province, with 65 deaths recorded
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Health officials on Friday confirmed a new outbreak of Ebola in Congo’s remote Ituri province, with 246 cases and 65 deaths reported so far.
The deaths and suspected cases were recorded mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health centers, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent’s top public health organization, said in a statement.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be acquired through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but severe and often fatal.
“It has been reported that four people have died among laboratory-confirmed cases. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, pending confirmation,” said the agency, referring to the provincial capital of Ituri, near the border with Uganda.
It said preliminary laboratory results found the virus in 13 of the 20 samples tested.
The latest outbreak comes nearly five months after the last Ebola outbreak in Congo was declared over after 43 people died.
Concerns about the risk of further spread
Ituri is located in the eastern part of Congo characterized by a network of bad roads, and is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the country’s capital Kinshasa.
The Africa CDC said it is concerned about the risk of further spread due to heavy population movements, mining-related mobility in Mongwalu, insecurity in affected areas, gaps in contact lists and regulatory challenges.
The proximity of the affected areas to Uganda and South Sudan also raises concerns, it said.
The agency said it is calling an urgent high-level coordination meeting on Friday with health authorities in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, as well as key partners including UN agencies and other countries.
“The meeting will focus on immediate priorities, border crossing coordination, surveillance, laboratory support, infection prevention and control, risk communication, safe and dignified burial, and pooling resources,” the statement said.
The World Health Organization has recognized the Ebola outbreak in Congo as a public health emergency of global concern.
This is the seventeenth outbreak in Congo since the disease first appeared in the country in 1976. The Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020 in eastern Congo killed more than a thousand people.
A previous outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 also killed more than 11,000 people.
The new outbreak will cause further concern in the Central African country, which is battling various armed groups in the east, including the M23 rebel group, which launched a rapid offensive in January last year and has taken over key cities.
Ituri in particular is also fighting violence from the Allied Democratic Force, a militant group linked to the Islamic State that has killed dozens there and in other parts of the east.
Congo, Africa’s second largest country in terms of land area, often faces challenges in dealing with disease outbreaks. During last year’s outbreak, which lasted three months, the World Health Organization initially faced major challenges in delivering vaccines due to poor access and lack of funding.
