An Ebola outbreak hits Goma in Congo while a pastor on a bus is the first confirmed case in a city amid an epidemic today.

Beni, Congo – The Congolese Ministry of Health confirmed a Ebola A case in Goma Sunday evening, marking the first time that the virus reaches the city of more than 2 million people along the Rwandan border since the beginning of the epidemic almost a year ago. The health minister said that the man who arrived Sunday in the regional capital had been quickly transported to an Ebola treatment center.

Authorities said they found all bus passengers that the man had taken to Goma from Butembo, one of the cities hardest hit by the disease.

"Because of the speed with which the patient was identified and isolated and the identification of all other passengers of the bus coming from Butembo, the risk of spread In the rest of the city of Goma, the size is small, "said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

Nevertheless, the president of the World Health Organization said that the case confirmed in Goma could change the deal with regard to how the epidemic in Central Africa is being treated. A month ago, when the disease spread in Uganda, the WHO convened and decided that it was still not up to par. a global health emergency. For such a declaration, an epidemic must be a risk for other countries and require a coordinated response. The statement usually triggers more funding and political attention.

On Monday, the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he hoped the virus would not spread in Goma, but he convened a meeting of the emergency committee of the Goma. organization to discuss a possible global emergency declaration.

The virus killed more than 1,600 people in Congo and two others who returned home across the border to Uganda. Health experts have long been afraid to travel to Goma, located on the Rwandan border.

Ministries of health in Congo's neighboring countries have been preparing for the possibility of cases for months and front-line health workers have already been vaccinated.

The confirmed case announced Sunday night in eastern Congo concerns a pastor who fell ill last Tuesday. He then left Butembo in a bus and arrived Sunday in a health center with Ebola symptoms, the Health Ministry said.

The other killer in Congo

Violent attacks on health workers and treatment facilities have seriously undermined efforts to combat the epidemic in Butembo. Congolese health ministry officials said on Monday that unidentified assailants killed two health workers in the Ebola community over the weekend in North Kivu province. Workers have been threatened for months, the ministry said.

This epidemic, which occurs near the borders of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, is unlike any other. Mistrust was high in a region that had never been confronted with the Ebola virus, and attacks by rebel groups undermined aid efforts.

Correspondent of CBS News Debora Patta visited the epicenter of the epidemic In Congo, at the end of May, the civil war, which lasted for a quarter of a century, and the violence and mistrust that it sparked, clearly disrupted efforts to contain the disease. Treatment centers have often been attacked by the myriad militias operating in the area, and many locals were too frightened or too suspicious to seek medical assistance.

Eastern Congo is home to a myriad of armed groups and Mai Mai militia fighters are active near the hardest hit cities. Health teams have not been able to access areas of violence to vaccinate people at risk of infection and to isolate infected patients.

Other times, the violence against health teams comes from residents who do not want their loved ones to be taken to treatment centers or buried according to the guidelines to reduce the transmission of the Ebola virus.

Although the experimental vaccine has saved countless lives, not all Congolese have accepted it. Some mistakenly believe that it is the vaccine that makes people sick, in part because people can still develop the disease after being vaccinated if they had already been infected.