Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, which killed 15 people since the end of August, the Health Minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, said Friday.
The new outbreak is in Central Kasai province, Kamba told journalists in the capital, Kinshasa.
The last outbreak of Ebola in the vast Central African nation was three years ago and killed six people.
28 suspected cases have been recorded, according to provisional figures, with the first case reported on August 20 in a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted in the hospital.
“It is the 16th outbreak recorded in our country,” Kamba said.
First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, causing severe bleeding and organ failure.
The deadliest outbreak in DRC — whose population numbers more than 100 million — killed nearly 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020.
Health authorities said the Zaire strain — for which there is a vaccine — is the cause of the new outbreak.
“Fortunately, we have a vaccine for this Zaire strain, but to deploy it, we need to ensure the logistics,” Kamba said.
Four times the size of France, DRC has poor infrastructure, with often limited and poorly maintained lines of communication. (AFP)
