DR Congo: Ebola Outbreak Under Control Says Prime Minister
By Staff Writer
Deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Equateur province, north of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), unrelated to the epidemic in West Africa region, is soon being brought under control, with no new cases detected for several days, said Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo on Sunday 21.
The government body coordinating the response to Ebola, released data on Monday 23, showing DRC had recorded 68 cases in Equateur province since August 2014. Four previously suspected cases had tested negative, but one new case was added. Congo has registered 41 deaths from its outbreak.
"Ebola outbreak in DRC almost over," Ponyo said on his official Twitter account. "No new case recorded for nearly 10 days."
According to the country's health ministry docket, held by Felix Kabange through a statement to the public said the disease was being brought under control and almost over as relevant authorities and their partners have managed to contain the epidemic in the zone where it was initially declared, hence reducing the rate of contamination. Adding that unlike West African states, Congo has experience fighting Ebola.
It further noted that in the last ten days, no new Ebola case has been reported.
However, aid workers are likely to be cautious about declaring victory over the disease after governments in West Africa appeared to downplay the threat of the virus there in the early stages of the outbreak.
A spokesman for French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has some 40 aid workers helping Congo fight the illness, said it was not in a position to say whether the disease was under control.
On Saturday 20, the Congolese cabinet decided to send more support to increase efficiency of medical teams on the ground.
The Ebola outbreak in Congo was first declared in the Djera area of the province of Equateur on August 24. Unlike the crisis in West Africa, the disease is contained in distant, thickly forested regions with low population density.
West Africa's Ebola outbreak began in Guinea's southeast and the government said several times it was controlling the disease, however it gradually spread into the capital, Conakry, and then into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Nigeria and Senegal too recorded cases, but appear to have contained the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) says over 2,800 people have now been killed, about half of all those infected. Experts say the number of cases is likely to exceed 20,000 before the disease can be brought under control.