An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is probably linked to 136 deaths, the Central African nation’s Health Minister has said.
Samuel Roger Kamba told a press briefing in the capital Kinshasa on Tuesday (19 May) that there were 543 suspected cases of the illness and 32 confirmed positive cases in the DRC.
"We have about 32 positive cases from the samples we received. 32 cases are positive. [...] We are today at 136 probable deaths linked to the disease,” he said.
"We have 69 patients who are in our treatment centres. [...] We are at around 543 probable patients in the community. And so, this is the situation of the disease today. And we are indeed continuing the active search for all cases,” Kamba added.
The outbreak has alarmed experts because it was able to spread for weeks undetected across a densely populated area ravaged by widespread armed violence.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday (16 May), the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.
A previous outbreak between 2018 and 2020 in eastern DRC was the second deadliest on record, killing nearly 2,300 people.
Around half of people who contract Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids from an infected person or animal, die from the disease, according to the WHO.
Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said three vaccines were currently in development for the virus.
“There is the first vaccine, as we said, the Ervebo Merck vaccine. That is the one we are pushing the most, with some specificities we are studying,” he said.
“The second is the ChAdOx vaccine from the UK. And the third is the vaccine called VSV-BDBV. That comes from Texas.”
Meanwhile, a U.S. citizen who contracted the virus in the DRC, has been transferred to Germany for treatment, the U.S. CDC said on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said it would fund up to 50 treatment clinics in Ebola-affected regions of the DRC and Uganda.
The United States has bombed Iran for an 11th consecutive night as the Pentagon says the war’s cost reach $37.5 billion. President Donald Trump thr...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have discussed regional developments, transport connectivity, energy c...
Kazakhstan’s main oil export route has been disrupted after the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) suspended crude intake following drone attacks on ...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 21st of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
President Donald Trump said the United States will target Iran’s heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain site “pretty soon” as he meets with Lebanese president Michel Aoun. Meanwhile, U.S. forces carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran while Tehran continues to target Gulf countries.
Overnight U.S. strikes caused blackouts in southwestern Iran and hit the northwestern city of Tabriz for the first time. Separately, a U.S. soldier died in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 22nd of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Azerbaijan has rejected suggestions it played any official role in reported private talks between former German politicians and Russian representatives in Baku, saying the meetings were organised independently.
A satirical online campaign has become one of the largest youth-led protest movements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, fuelled by anger over exam failures, unemployment and concerns about India’s education system.
The death toll from a 13 July fire at a pub in the Thai capital, Bangkok, has risen to 35, city emergency services said on Wednesday. Twenty-one people remain in hospital, with 12 in critical condition, as investigators continue to examine the cause of the blaze.
Ukraine struck two more warehouses belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries on Wednesday, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Tatyana Kim, said, in the latest wave of drone attacks targeting Russia’s consumer infrastructure.
Wildfires continue to spread across parts of southern Europe, forcing evacuations and placing increasing pressure on emergency services in France, Spain and Italy.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called on the U.S. government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video released on Tuesday 21 July, describing the Israeli leader as a "war criminal."
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment