The Health Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has declared his country to be Ebola-free today , however, he warned, “the end of the epidemic … does not mean we are completely out of danger.”
Felix Kabange said no new cases had been registered since Oct. 4 in a totally separate Ebola outbreak than that is raging in West Africa.
He also said, “Like every other nation, the Democratic Republic of Congo remains threatened by the possible import of the Ebola virus disease raging in West Africa.”
During the course of the DRC Ebola outbreak, 66 cases (38 confirmed, 28 probable) of Ebola virus disease (EVD) were reported, resulting in 49 deaths, or a 74% case-fatality rate. The outbreak began in August in Equateur province in north-western DRC.
On their Twitter page today, the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated the DRC for ending Ebola transmission.
The DRC, formerly known as Zaire, was home of the world’s first known Ebola outbreak that occurred in 1976.
The latest Ebola update for the outbreak in West Africa shows a total of 14 383 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD and 5165 deaths have been reported up to the end of the 11 November by the Ministries of Health of Guinea and Sierra Leone, and 10 November by the Ministry of Health of Liberia.
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