Ebola toll continues to rise, outbreak the third worst
The number of deaths in the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo increased to 648 and the number of confirmed cases increased to 1830.
According to the latest bulletin published by the Ministry of Communications and Media on Saturday, with data collected up to July 10, the case fatality rate currently stands at 35.4 percent.
Additionally, 780 patients are in hospital isolation and 285 people have recovered from the disease. Officials said the contact tracing rate was 78.1 percent.
The epidemic is concentrated in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.
South Kivu has now surpassed the 42-day threshold without a new case being confirmed; This was an important milestone towards officially declaring the end of the epidemic in the state.
World Health Organization (WHO) protocols stipulate that the Ebola epidemic can be declared over if no new cases are detected for 42 days, which is twice the incubation period.
The outbreak was officially declared on May 15 in Ituri, a state bordering Uganda and South Sudan.
The epidemic also spread to Uganda; It was stated that 20 confirmed cases were detected here, 15 of them were cases thought to be imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there were two deaths among them.
The outbreak corresponds to the Bundibugyo strain, which has a mortality rate of between 30 percent and 50 percent and has no authorized vaccine or specific treatment.
WHO considers the risk of the epidemic spreading in sub-Saharan Africa to be “high” and “low” globally.
WHO estimates that the virus began circulating in Ituri about two months before the outbreak was confirmed.
A public health emergency of international concern was declared on May 17.
This is the third worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history and the 17th outbreak to affect the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The current outbreak is second only to the one that hit West Africa between 2014 and 2016, leaving nearly 11,000 dead and 28,000 infected, and affected Eastern Congo between 2018 and 2020, causing 2,299 deaths and 3,481 cases.
Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people or animals and causes severe hemorrhagic fever, vomiting, diarrhea and internal bleeding.
