KASAI
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has declared a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, three years after the last one, with health officials confirming 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths.
The Ministry of Health said laboratory tests carried out on Wednesday confirmed the presence of the Zaire strain of Ebola. The initial signal of the outbreak came on August 20 when a 34-year-old pregnant woman was admitted to a health facility in Kasai province with symptoms including high fever and vomiting. The ministry did not disclose whether she survived.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that case numbers are likely to rise as transmission of the virus is ongoing. Ebola, a rare but often fatal illness, is spread through contact with blood and other bodily fluids.
Congo has faced more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks, the most devastating being between 2018 and 2020, which killed nearly 2,300 people. The last outbreak was recorded in 2022 in Equateur province.
WHO said DRC has a stockpile of treatments and 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which will be dispatched to Kasai to vaccinate frontline health workers and contacts of confirmed cases. The agency also pledged two tons of emergency supplies, including mobile laboratory equipment and medical kits, to help contain the outbreak.
