The Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo declared a new Ebola outbreak in the country on Monday. The Minister of Health, Eteni Longondo, has reported that the cases have been located in Mbandaka, Province of Ecuador, in the northwest of the country. “There are four people who died there. The National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) has just informed me that the evidence from Mbandaka is positive for Ebola virus disease,” the minister said. Mbandaka is the capital of the province of Ecuador and this area was already affected by Ebola in 2018, with 54 cases and 33 deaths, so it is familiar with the management of the virus. “It is a province that has already experienced the disease. They already have reflections on what to do and started the response locally since yesterday,” Longondo said, saying they have sent vaccines and drugs right away to this region. Weeks ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that although the last Ebola patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had been discharged in early March, the outbreak was not over and the risk of new cases was “very real”.
It is the second largest and deadliest epidemic in history after the one that hit West Africa from 2014 to 2016, which left more than 11,000 dead, and the largest it has faced in Congo, where the disease is endemic. Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with contaminated blood and bodily fluids, causes hemorrhagic fever and can reach a 90% mortality rate if not treated early. As for the coronavirus pandemic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had no impact as high, at least according to official data showing 3,194 positive cases, 72 deaths and 454 people recovered.
