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- The country had planned to declare an end to the epidemic on 12 th April
- The recent death of a 26-year-old man in the area of Beni has dashed its hopes to declare the country as Ebola-free.
DRC has been hoping that the second worst outbreak of the Ebola in the country is coming to a close. However, the recent death of a 26-year-old man in the area of Beni has dashed its hopes to declare the country as Ebola free. The new Ebola case, the first since Feb. 17, developed symptoms on March 27 and died in hospital. The country had planned to declare an end to the epidemic on 12 th April, which would have allowed its overstretched health service to focus on the COVID19, which has infected 215 and killed 20. The country is also facing a measles epidemic.
The death toll due to Ebola since August 2018 touched more than 2,200 in a volatile area of the country where rebel attacks disrupted efforts to contain it. Kate Moger, International Rescue Committee’s Regional Vice President of the Great Lakes region, remarked that DRC is facing a triple emergency – ongoing humanitarian crises, the spread of COVID-19, and now again potentially a re-emerging Ebola crisis. The symptoms of Ebola include fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. The mortality rate is reportedly two-third of the infected. Since 1976, DR Congo has suffered 10 outbreaks. The most severe was between 2013 and 2016 leading to 11,000 deaths. Two new vaccines have had a major impact on containing the virus this time.
Managing a Pandemic like COVID 19 and an epidemic like Ebola at the same time is going to be extremely challenging for the health workers in the country.
