New deadly Ebola outbreak declared in DR Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday declared an eleventh outbreak of the Ebola virus disease.

Minister of Health Eteni Longondo said the new outbreak is in the city of Mbandaka, in Equateur Province in northwestern DRC.

“The samples taken in Mbandaka and sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa were positive,” he said at a press conference in Kinshasa.

The Ebola response team is already in place at the provincial level and another team will be deployed from Kinshasa to strengthen the response.

A few days ago, the authorities in the city of Mbandaka reported four suspicious deaths.

World Health OrganiSation (WHO) Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter that there are six confirmed Ebola cases, including the four people who died.

WHO also has its teams on the ground to help in the fight against the epidemic.

The announcement of the new outbreak comes as DR Congo health authorities started a countdown to declare the end of the tenth Ebola epidemic that has plagued the eastern part of the country since 2018.

The outbreak resulted in more than 3,000 infections and more than 2,000 deaths.

It was the deadliest in the history of the country since the discovery of the first Ebola epidemic around 1977 in Bandundu province.