[ad_1]
Ebola has killed 201 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak of an epidemic two months ago in the war-torn country.
"No other epidemic in the world has been as complex as the one we are currently experiencing," said Minister of Health Oly Ilunga Kalenga.
This is the 10th outbreak in Congo since 1976, when haemorrhagic fever was identified for the first time in Yambuku, Equateur province, the ministry said. The Minister of Health, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said the numbers now exceeded this epidemic.
The virus was confirmed at 291, half of which was in Beni, in the North Kivu region, a city of about 800,000, the health ministry said. Less than a third of those who contract the disease survive.
More than 28,000 people in this country of Central Africa have received a vaccine. But the civil war hampers efforts to protect more.
This is the first time an Ebola outbreak has occurred in the far northeastern Congo. It is a region where many militias fight over Congo's rich natural resources.
"Since their arrival in the region, the intervention teams have faced threats, physical assaults, repeated destruction of their equipment and kidnappings," said Kalenga. "Two of our colleagues from the rapid intervention medical unit even lost their lives in an attack."
In addition to militia attacks that have affected health workers, the region's high population density and cross-border movements between Uganda and Rwanda pose an additional risk of spreading the deadly disease in the region.
"This epidemic remains dangerous and unpredictable and we must not let our guard down. We must continue to seek a very dynamic response that requires permanent readjustments and real ownership at the community level, "he said.
The outbreak began shortly after the Congolese government declared an end to another epidemic in the western part of the country in June and congratulated those involved for successfully containing the spread of the disease.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health announced that it would install health checkpoints at the entrances to all polling stations in the Ebola-affected region of Congo during the December presidential election. when millions of Congolese should go to the polls.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through the body fluids of infected people, including the dead
Source link
