KEY POINTS
- Health officials are worried about a new Ebola outbreak in Congo
- She discovered the deadly virus in the capital of the province of Equator
- WHO raised $ 2.3 million, but Congolese health officials said they needed $ 40 million to fight it
About a hundred people in Congo were found infected by the deadly Ebola virus. This new outbreak got on the nerves of many health officials because of the possibility of dealing with an uncontrolled epidemic in the midst of miserable coronavirus.
In early June, a cluster of cases was discovered in Mbandaka, the provincial capital of the Equatorial Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Hill revealed that in the last five weeks the cases have already doubled. Thirty-three died from the outbreak, the Word Health Organization (WHO) said.
The outbreak was not only concentrated in Mbandaka, but it has spread to 11 health zones, WHO explained. The health agency notes that the spread of the virus already covers about 180 miles of the jungle, and raises concerns about the difficulty of reaching villages that were hit.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, described the spread of the Ebola virus over a wide area, but since the coronavirus pandemic has hit the ground running, scaling up operations to combat the spread is difficult.
In May 2018, an Ebola outbreak was also detected in Equatorial Province. However, it was easily contained in a three-month case. It infected 54 people and took the lives of 33 people.
The current outbreak in Mbandaka is of vital importance to officials because of its strategic port position in the Congo River. This connects Equatorial Province with two major cities, the Kinshasa and Brazzaville, with populations of 12 million and 2 million respectively. Health officials were worried that if the virus reached one of the areas, it could result in an urban outbreak, which they consider harder to contain.
Must mark that COVID-19 is not the only health emergency that would need support. He underlined how history would show that the Ebola virus was ignored and put people at risk.
Congolese health ministry said $ 40 million is needed to control the outbreak of Ebola. The WHO has already started $ 2.3 million. However, the amount is still not enough. International partners are still focused on coronavirus response and have not yet made any further commitments in terms of funding, which would be used for the outbreak.
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