(Image source from: aljazeera.com)
While the world is gradually recovering from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, new reports suggest fresh Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Five people, including a 15-year old girl have died because of the outbreak, reported the United Nation’s Children’s Fund on Monday. Till now, 9 cases have been reported so far by UNICEF.
"Four additional people who contracted the virus -- all contacts of the deceased and including the child of one of the fatal cases -- are being treated in an isolation unit at the Wangata Hospital in Mbandaka," said UNICEF.
The deaths have occurred between 18-30th of May but the reason being Ebola was confirmed just yesterday.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to his twitter to confirm the news of the six cases that have been reported in Mbandaka. This is the 11th outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country till date. The virus is generally passed on through bodily fluids and has a fatality rate of 25-90%, depending on the severity of the outbreak.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been facing a hard time containing the outbreak that first started in 2018, infecting over 3000 people and causing the deaths of over 2200 people. There have been no new cases reported in the last 21 days since the new outbreak.
Since the virus has an incubation period of 21 days, it is believed that the outbreak is likely under control but WHO is going to wait for a whole two more weeks to confirm the level of seriousness of the outbreak. In short, they are going to keep an eye out for 42 days before confirming whether or not the outbreak has ended.
"The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world's largest measles outbreak," said WHO in a statement.
While Ebola has had its fair share of impacts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is measles outbreak which left behind even worse impacts on the lives of the people there, infecting over 370,000 people and causing over 6700 deaths.
The Ebola virus is found in bats and according to the reports from WHO, it is likely going to spread commonly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The largest Ebola outbreak happened between the years of 2014-16 in some of the Western African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, infecting over 28,000 people and claiming the lives of over 11,000 people.
By Somapika Dutta
