Ebola outbreak fears after deadly virus found in DR Congo city of Goma for first time
- Experts have long feared that virus could make its way to Goma on the Rwanda border
- But officials say risk of spreading was ‘low’ after infected priest arrived in city by bus
The first case of Ebola in the eastern Congo city of Goma has been discovered, officials said, raising concerns the virus could spread quicker in a densely populated area close to the Rwanda border.
Goma, a lakeside city of 1 million people, is more than 350km south of where the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record was first detected a year ago.
But the haemorrhagic fever has gradually spread south, infecting nearly 2,500 people and killing more than 1,600.
The patient is a pastor who had been preaching in church and would have touched the hands of worshippers “including the sick”, Congo’s health ministry said in a statement.
His symptoms first appeared last Tuesday in Butembo, one of the main towns touched by Ebola where he had been preaching.
He left by bus on Friday to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, arriving early Sunday where “the results of the laboratory test confirmed that he was positive for Ebola”, the ministry said.