Kinshasa, June 24 (IANS) Ebola has so far killed 277 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). And 1,094 have been confirmed infected. The Ebola outbreak was declared on 15 May. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described this as the record for the highest number of cases recorded in the first month.
According to official data released on Tuesday, 387 patients are in quarantine or receiving treatment, while 115 have recovered. In addition, 131 suspected cases have also been reported, including 44 suspicious deaths.
According to the Health Ministry’s daily epidemic report, confirmed cases are continuously increasing on a weekly basis, reflecting the spread of infection in the community.
Public health measures have been intensified, including strengthening epidemiological and laboratory surveillance and decentralization of testing capacity, Xinhua News Agency quoted the ministry as saying. This is allowing early detection of cases and confirming community-level spread.
These are the highest number of cases recorded in the first month of any Ebola outbreak in Africa, Abdirahman Mahmoud, WHO’s director of health emergency alert and response operations, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
He said there have been signs of improvement in response capacity and treatment facilities have increased in the recent two weeks. Now this capacity has increased from just a few beds to more than 500 beds in 19 health areas.
Laboratory capacity has also been increased rapidly. Initially there were about 30 tests per day in the capital Kinshasa, now it has reached more than 2000. This is made possible through a network of eight laboratories spread across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said on Tuesday he would soon visit Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, to review relief and control operations on the ground.
He said this at a joint press conference held in Kinshasa with Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, whose country currently holds the rotation-based chairmanship of the African Union.
Before the press conference, both leaders were briefed by the National Ebola Task Force on the status of the epidemic and control measures.
Tshisekedi called for strengthening regional cooperation and stressed prevention, surveillance and rapid information sharing.
Ndayishimiye appealed to African countries and the international community not to close the borders.
Another case has been reported in Uganda, which is adjacent to Ituri province (where about 90 percent of the infections have been found). With this, the total number of cases there has increased to 20, out of which 14 patients have recovered and two have died.
According to Uganda’s Health Ministry, 15 cases are imported infections.
Also on Tuesday, Uganda and Congo launched cross-border cooperation, which includes joint surveillance, deployment of rapid response teams, mobile labs and treatment centres.
According to a recent WHO report, the risk of Ebola in the DRC remains high as the infection continues to spread and reach new areas.
At the same time, the infection rate remains high in Uganda also.
–IANS
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