Kinshasa: The Democratic Republic of Congo has announced the end of its latest Ebola outbreak after no new cases were reported in the past 42 days. Congo’s health minister, Roger Kamba, stated that a total of 53 confirmed cases, 45 deaths, and 11 probable cases were recorded during the country’s 16th Ebola outbreak.
According to Nam News Network, Kamba mentioned that more than 47,500 people were vaccinated. The minister credited frontline workers for their efforts in stemming the outbreak. He also noted that the nation is still battling other diseases, including cholera and mpox.
Congolese authorities had declared the Ebola outbreak on September 4 in Bulape, located in the Kasai province. This was Kasai’s first outbreak since 2008. Health workers, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO), tackled the outbreak by setting up a new Ebola treatment facility.
Initially, they faced challenges in delivering the vaccine due to limited access and scarce funds. Dr. Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, stated that controlling and ending this Ebola outbreak in three months is a significant achievement. National authorities, frontline health workers, partners, and communities acted swiftly and unitedly in one of the country’s hard-to-reach localities, he added.
There have been no new cases in Kasai since September 25, and the last Ebola patient was discharged on October 19.