ebola - The African Mirror

Aug

2020

Ebola outbreak in western DR Congo hits 100 cases

FISTON MAHAMBA THE Ebola outbreak in western Democratic Republic of Congo has infected 100 people as of Friday, killing 43 of them, the World Health Organization said. The latest outbreak of the virus was declared on June 1 in Mbandaka, a city of 1 million people on the River Congo, just before Congo declared the end of a previous outbreak in the east that had dragged on for two years. It has spread to remote villages in Equateur province spanning more than 300 km of dense forest with few roads, the WHO said in a statement. The pace of the…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo Ebola responders strike over unpaid salaries

NEWS

FISTON MAHAMBA HEALTH workers responding to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone on strike over unpaid wages, hurting the impoverished country's ability to identify and treat patients, the World Health Organization said on Monday. The Ebola virus in western Congo has spread steadily into remote villages across Equateur province since the first case was identified on June 1, infecting 88 people and killing 36. On Saturday, local laboratory technicians, case management teams and contact tracers blocked access to the Ebola testing laboratory in the city of Mbandaka, the provincial capital, said Mory Keita, the WHO's…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Ebola business’ concerns resurface as new Congo outbreak spreads

HEALTH

PHILIP KLEINFELD and ETIENNE MASANGO AS an outbreak of Ebola ratchets up in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s densely forested northwestern province of Équateur, warning signs are growing that corruption problems that dogged the last epidemic, in the conflict-torn east, risk being repeated. Eight weeks into the latest outbreak – which has infected 67 people and left 31 dead – several senior humanitarian officials involved in the response told The New Humanitarian that government officials have been trying to profit from relief funds, following a precedent set during the previous outbreak, which cost more than 2,200 lives between August 2018 and…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Meet Nigerian COVID-19 tracers

AFRICITIES

LIBBY GEORGE, PAUL GEORGE, PAUL CARSTEN and ALEXIS AKWAGYIRAM EARLY one evening, Folasade Fadare and her team of four disease hunters piled into a van and headed for Okegun, a rural community down a narrow potholed road in eastern Lagos state. A coronavirus patient had visited the area, and it was their task to find anyone exposed, isolate them and trace their contacts. The team quickly realised the job was too big: more than 100 people needed to be interviewed and tested. Ultimately, only the two sickest people, feverish and gasping for air, were sent to hospital to be isolated…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

West Congo Ebola cases up to 60, funerals a risk, says WHO

NEWS

EBOLA cases in western Democratic Republic of Congo have risen to 60, with funerals a particular concern for disease spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan said another three cases were detected at the weekend, making a total of 56 confirmed and four probable infections in an outbreak announced last month in Congo's Equateur province. "The disease is active, not controlled," Ryan told a virtual briefing from the U.N. agency's headquarters in Geneva, noting burial practices as a worry. - Thomson Reuters Foundation.