As the world feels the havoc being manufactured by COVID-19, Ebola is spreading in Western Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that there is nearly 50 known cases across a large region bordering the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
Authorities announced the outbreak on June 1 where 48 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s Equateur province with three probable cases and a total of 20 deaths. “This is still a very active outbreak, and I would say it is still a great concern,” WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told a news briefing on Monday.
The province includes part of the River Congo, as he said and added that it was a large geographical area where communities were linked and people traveled long distances.
The traveling increases the risk of spreading more.
He went ahead and advised “I would caution everyone that while the numbers in this event are low, again in the era of COVID-19 it is very important that we do not take our eyes off these other emerging diseases and we saw in North Kivu and other previous outbreaks of Ebola that these can get out of control very easily.”
Mike Ryan was referring to a separate outbreak of Ebola which involved Ituri and North Kivu provinces of Eastern Congo that was declared over a month ago. That epidemic which was the second largest on record, saw 3,463 confirmed and possible cases and 2,277 deaths over two years.
This brings more fears amid a full blown Covid-19 in Africa.
By Hissam Njogu.
