After battling with Ebola for quite some time, DRC confirmed new cases on the northwestern part. This is despite the country fighting the deadly fever in the eastern and novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, infections are on the rise as COVID-19 cases seem to prop up daily.
Just weeks before the country declared victory in the history of ‘the battle with Ebola’, i.e. combating the 10th Ebola outbreak, they confirmed the 11th outbreak.
Eteni Longodo, the Health Minister reported the demise of four Ebola patients in the northwestern after severely being ill.
Health Minister Eteni Longodo said that “four people have already died” from Ebola in a district of the northwestern city of Mbandaka.
“The National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) has confirmed to me that samples from Mbandaka tested positive for Ebola,” Longodo told a press conference on Monday.
He promised the people adequate treatment and assured them to send enough medical personnel and equipment. Moreover, he said he would visit the site later in the week.
Mbandaka, which is the capital of Equateur province is a transport center located on the river Congo. It is an area inhabited by over one million people.
In June 2018, Equateur province confirmed an Ebola outbreak from which 33 people succumbed and 21 recovered.
The Minister of Health is optimistic that the response to Ebola in the east is much better because of the previous attacks.
World Health Organization promised to help DRC in combating Ebola. The organization said they would send a medical team and equipment.
“To reinforce local leadership, WHO plans to send a team to support scaling up the response,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said in a statement.
“Given the proximity of this new outbreak to busy transport routes and vulnerable neighboring countries, we must act quickly.”
Eastern Ebola outbreak
The eastern part of DRC has recorded many fatal cases of Ebola. Since August 2018, around 2280 people have died from the virus.
Health practitioners have been doing their level best to combat the virus.
The only way to ascertain victory over the virus is if within the last 42 days the doctors confirm no new cases.
It was in early April when the practitioners almost declared the country Ebola-free until they confirmed a new case.
During the epidemic, they confirmed 7 new cases,4 deaths, and two recoveries.
The who has extended emergency support to The Northern Kivu province which has recorded many fatalities.
With the help of two experimental vaccines, medical teams have administered vaccines to over 300000 people.
Some medical officials have contracted the disease making combating the disease a challenge.
In the history of Ebola outbreaks, the eastern pandemic is the second most fatal. This is after the 2014 Ebola pandemic which led to the death of 11000 people in Guinea Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Virologist Jean Jacques Muyembe, who discovered the first corona case in DRC also identified Ebola in 1976 with help from Belgian. Muyembe attested to devoting his life and career to combat Ebola.
Corona and measles pandemic
The WHO states that death rates caused by the virus are high especially in cases of an epidemic. Up to 90% of people do succumb.
Coronavirus is the current novel disease that has been spreading and infecting persons all over the globe.
The virus is contracted by getting into contact with infected secretion e.g. saliva from coughs.
In DRC, currently, 3195 persons have corona. Kinshasa, its capital, is leading with 2896patients and 72 deaths. However, Equateur province hasn’t recorded any cases.
Longodo stated during a briefing that they were not going to lift any restrictions since the virus was thriving tremendously. The travel bans between Kinshasa and other countries were still on.
Similarly, the country is also facing an outbreak of measles. Doctors have recorded 6000 measle patients.
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