New outbreak of Ebola kills 17 in northwest Congo, sparking warning about ‘international impact’
The new infections come four years after the worst Ebola outbreak on record killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa
A fresh outbreak of the deadly disease Ebola has killed 17 people in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and sparked warnings of a “public health emergency with international impact” from the health ministry.
“Twenty-one cases of fever with haemorrhagic indications and 17 deaths” have been recorded in Equateur province, it said, citing a notification to the ministry as of May 3.
It is the DRC’s ninth known outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the deadly viral disease was first identified in then-Zaire by a Belgian-led team.
In Geneva, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said lab tests in the DRC confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in two out of five samples collected from patients.
“WHO is working closely with the government of the DRC to rapidly scale up its operations and mobilise health partners, using the model of a successful response to a similar … outbreak in 2017,” it said in a statement.
It said it had released US$1 million from an emergency contingency fund, set up a coordination group and deployed more than 50 experts to work with the DRC government and health agencies.