DR Congo reports 1,118 confirmed Ebola cases, 291 deaths

Kinshasa, June 25 (IANS) The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 1,118 confirmed Ebola cases, including 291 deaths, the DRC government said in the latest situation update on the outbreak.

The update, posted on X by the DRC’s Ministry of Communications and Media on Wednesday (local time), showed that 122 people have recovered, while 408 patients are under care. The case fatality rate stood at 26 per cent as of Tuesday.

Epidemiological surveillance remains active, leading to the identification of 138 suspected cases, while the contact follow-up rate stood at 77.1 per cent, according to the update.

As the eastern Ituri province remains the epicentre of the outbreak, the South Kivu province has reported no new transmission since May 26, while surveillance, patient care, and contact tracing efforts continue in affected areas, said the update.

The global risk posed by the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Africa remains low despite rising case numbers in the affected region, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Earlier on Tuesday, Abdirahman Mahamud, director of Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations at the WHO, told a press briefing in Geneva, “This is the largest number of confirmed cases in the first month of an Ebola disease outbreak in Africa.”

Mahamud pointed to encouraging signs that the response was expanding to keep pace with the spread. Treatment capacity has increased over the past two weeks, “going from a handful to over 500 beds across 19 health zones,” he said.

Laboratory capacity has also been sharply expanded, from around 30 tests per day in the capital Kinshasa at the start of the outbreak to more than 2,000 tests per day through a network of eight decentralised laboratories across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, he said.

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said Tuesday that he would soon travel to Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, to follow up on response operations on the ground.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference in Kinshasa with visiting Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the African Union.

Prior to the press conference, the two leaders were briefed on the DRC’s epidemiological situation and response measures at a meeting with the Central African country’s national Ebola response task force.

To contain the Ebola outbreak, Tshisekedi also called for stronger regional cooperation based on prevention, epidemiological surveillance and rapid information-sharing.

Ndayishimiye urged African countries and the wider international community not to close borders.

–IANS

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