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More than 500 people have died as a result of the latest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo, but vaccination program has averted thousands more deaths, said country's health minister AFP.
"In total, there were 502 deaths and 271 people healed," said Friday a report of the Ministry of Health released Friday, reporting on the outbreak in the east of the country.
However, Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said that for the first time, a vaccination program had helped protect 76,425 people and avoid "thousands" of deaths.
"I think we have prevented the spread of the epidemic in the big cities" of the region, he said.
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"The teams have also managed to limit the spread of the epidemic in neighboring countries," he added.
"The biggest problem is the high mobility of the population," added the minister.
The epidemic began last August in the North Kivu region, bordering Uganda and Rwanda.
The Spanish wing of the aid agency Doctors Without Borders reported Saturday on Twitter that there had been an increase in the number of cases since 15 January.
Rwanda, Uganda and southern Sudan, further north, are now all on alert, he added.
The security situation in the east of the country, where armed rebels have terrorized the population for years, makes it difficult to treat the disease.
(AFP)
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