The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in central Africa announced today (18) that the country’s latest outbreak of Ebola, which has killed 55 people in the past five months, is over.
Reuters reports that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Health, Eteni Longondo, told reporters, “I am pleased to solemnly announce the end of the 11th outbreak of Ebola in the northwestern province of Equateur.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed 55 people out of 119 confirmed and 11 suspected cases since the June outbreak, and said that, as with past outbreaks in the east of the country, widespread use of the vaccine has helped curb the spread of the virus.
In August 2018, the Ebola virus made a comeback in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the 10th epidemic in the country’s history and the worst, killing 2,277 people. The epidemic was not declared over until June 25, 2020.
While the 10th Ebola outbreak was still ongoing, the Democratic Republic of the Congo experienced an outbreak of Wuhan pneumonia (a novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) in March of this year, followed by another outbreak in Equateur province in June.
Despite declaring the 11th Ebola outbreak over, Lombardo said, “the likelihood of virus recurrence remains high.”
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