• Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Press Release
  • Sitemap
Africa News Wire
  • General
  • Business Affairs
  • Lifestyle
  • Health Care
  • Sports
  • Legal
  • Study
  • National
  • Press Releases
  • Home
  • Health Care
  • DRC, Congo Face Risk of Ebola Spreading Across Border

DRC, Congo Face Risk of Ebola Spreading Across Border

WebDesk
September 12, 2020 Comments Off on DRC, Congo Face Risk of Ebola Spreading Across Border

The World Health Organization is raising the prospect that the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Equateur province could spread across borders.

The latest figures put the number of cases in the province at 113, including 48 deaths. The disease has spread into 12 of the province’s 17 health zones.

Bomongo, the latest area affected by Ebola, is located between the Ubangi and Congo rivers. It is the second health zone to be affected that borders the Republic of the Congo.

The World Health Organization warned that this increases chances that the outbreak could spread into another country. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told VOA the risk was heightened because Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, also is affected by the outbreak.

“The population is also very highly mobile,” Chaib said. “Mbandaka, for example, is a strategic hub on the Congo River, and there is the fear and stigma surrounding the disease. … As it is a trading hub, WHO is helping also to screen travelers.”

Chaib said the risk of the disease spreading from Mbandaka to DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, along the busy river route was of concern.

“This makes cross-border collaboration between the DRC and Congo more important than ever and will require coordination on disease surveillance and efforts to screen travelers,” she said.

Travelers screened

To prevent the outbreak from spreading further, the WHO said it had screened nearly 1 million travelers for Ebola at 46 strategic points of control. It said those efforts had identified 72 suspected cases of Ebola, helping to reduce the disease’s spread.

Equateur province is a sprawling, densely forested area, and moving around it takes a long time. The WHO said the difficulty of reaching infected areas and identifying and getting Ebola victims into treatment was hampering efforts to contain the outbreak.

Another problem is funding. The WHO said the COVID-19 pandemic was draining resources and attention away from the Ebola epidemic.

The agency said its appeal for $40 million had gone largely unheeded. The WHO said it had provided $2.3 million from its emergency fund to keep its lifesaving operation in DRC from collapsing.

Source: Voice of America

Post navigation

Premier Alan Winde on Coronavirus Covid-19 cases for 11 September
Minister Zweli Mkhize confirms total of 649 793 cases of Coronavirus COVID-19

Related Articles

Former South Sudan Refugee Acclaimed for Saving COVID-19 Patients in South Africa

- Health Care
January 18, 2021

Malawi Announces New Lockdown Measures as COVID Cases Surge

- Health Care
January 18, 2021

Covid-19: South Africa deaths exceeds 37,000 mark

- Health Care
January 18, 2021

News Search

Page Links

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Press Release
  • Sitemap

Advertisement

MonthlyArchives

Advertisement

News Archives

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    
© Copyright 2021 - Africa News Wire. All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Press Release
  • Sitemap