Congo reports new case of Ebola virus months after ending previous outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday announced a new case of the Ebola virus in the eastern part of the country. According to the Health Ministry of DRC, the positive result was produced by a woman, who died last week after being admitted to a hospital with Ebola symptoms. The woman, who was the wife of an Ebola survivor, was admitted to a hospital on February 1 and succumbed to the viral disease two days later. The resurgence of Ebola has alarmed the local authorities, who had declared the end of a previous outbreak in June 2020.

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The new case of Ebola has been identified in Butembo city in North Kivu Province. The city was one of the epicentres of the previous outbreak in the country. The regional office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that samples of the woman have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research (NIBR) for genome sequencing and to identify the strain of the virus and to establish whether there is any link to the previous outbreak. 

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The UN health body, in a statement, said the local authorities are leading the response with help of the National Health Ministry and WHO epidemiologists. It said that during the previous outbreak of the disease "enormous" local capacity was built, which is helping authorities to lead the response. 

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"The expertise and capacity of local health teams have been critical in detecting this new Ebola case and paving the way for a timely response.WHO is providing support to local and national health authorities to quickly trace, identify and treat the contacts to curtail the further spread of the virus," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said in a statement. 

Ebola epidemic

The Ebola virus was first identified in the 1970s in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The latest outbreak occurred between 2013 and 2016, which was declared an epidemic by the World Health Organisation. The outbreak primarily affected Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, which posted a combined death toll of 11,308. The disease was also detected in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and the United States, where at least 1 person died. 

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(Image Credit: AP)