Democratic Republic of the Congo reports new Ebola case
By CNN
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In this Tuesday, July 16, 2019 photo, health workers dressed in protective gear begin their shift at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, Congo DRC. The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak an international emergency after spreading to eastern Congo's biggest city, Goma, this week. More than 1,600 people in eastern Congo have died as the virus has spread in areas too dangerous for health teams to access. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
CNN - A woman has contracted Ebola and died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marking the first case since the Central African country ended its last outbreak last year, the health ministry said on Sunday.
The woman was found with symptoms of the virus in the town of Biena, near the city of Butembo, on February 1, and died in hospital on February 3. She was married to a man who had contracted the virus in a previous outbreak.
"The provincial response team is already hard at work. It will be supported by the national response team which will visit Butembo shortly," the ministry said in a statement.
Health workers at an Ebola treatment center at Beni, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in July 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which is helping response efforts, says it has tracked more than 70 contacts of the woman. The places she visited are also being disinfected.
It is not yet clear if this case marks the start of a new outbreak or if it's a manageable flare-up from the last one. Samples from the woman have been sent to the capital Kinshasa to confirm the link to the previous outbreak.
"It is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak," the WHO said in a statement. It added that WHO epidemiologists are on the ground investigating, but that emergency response efforts had been hampered by ongoing insecurity in the region.
The emergence of more cases could complicate efforts to eradicate Covid-19, which has infected 23,600 people and killed 681 in the DRC. A coronavirus vaccination campaign is expected to start in the first half of this year.
However, an Ebola vaccine and a well-drilled health system means the country is better-placed than ever to deal with outbreaks, even in urban settings. Ebola has a much higher death rate than Covid-19, but unlike coronavirus it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. And lessons learned from the fight with those multiple outbreaks have helped efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus, experts say.
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