WHO: No new Ebola Case in DR Congo

The World Health Organisation said there has been no new case of Ebola Virus Disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo in over five weeks.

This was contained in a situation report released by the WHO African Region on Tuesday.

The virus, which is believed to be animal-borne, has infected over 3,400 and killed over 2200 lives in DRC, which is one of the worst-hit African countries by the epidemic.

WHO report read in part, “No new cases of Ebola virus disease have been reported since 17 February 2020. The last person confirmed to have Ebola was discharged from an Ebola Treatment Centre on 3 March 2020 after recovering and testing negative for the virus twice.

“The last 46 contacts finished their follow-up period on 9 March 2020. These developments are significant milestones in this outbreak.

“There is, however, still a high risk of the reemergence of EVD, and it is critical to maintain response activities to rapidly detect and respond to any new cases, and to continue ongoing support and health monitoring operations for EVD survivors – as outlined in the WHO recommended criteria for declaring the end of the EVD outbreak.”

However, WHO stated that funding is a major factor in the progressive fight against EVD in DRC and other countries in Africa.

“WHO has not received funding for the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since December 2019.

“An urgent injection of US$ 20 million is required to ensure that response teams have the capacity to maintain the appropriate level of operations through to the beginning of May 2020 and are able to rapidly respond to any flare-ups. If no new resources are received, WHO risks running out of funds for the Ebola response before the end of the outbreak.

“WHO’s financial need for the Ebola Response for January to June 2020 (SRP 4.1) is US $83 million. WHO currently requires US$ 40 million to ensure continuity of activities,” it concluded.