This May 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the risk from the recent Ebola outbreak from “high” to “very high” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths were registered.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that, although the risk remains “high” in the sub-Saharan Africa region, On a global scale it remains at “low levels.”
He also indicated that 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in the laboratory as caused by the Ebola virus.
The director general added that a second American citizen who was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was evacuated from the country, in this case to the Czech Republic, constituting a “high-risk contact”, after another, positive for the virus, was transferred to Germany.
Tedros clarified that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the The UN allocated US$60 million to respond to the health crisis.
The director general underlined the danger of an epidemic caused by a relatively unknown variant of the virus, called Bundibugyo, for which there are no treatments or vaccines.
So far, the variant has only caused two outbreaks: one in Uganda in 2000 and another in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012. the latter with barely a dozen fatal cases.
In addition to the WHO report, authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo restricted the number of people who can gather in the province of Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak.
“Public meetings, demonstrations and Parties are limited to a maximum of 50 peoples,” said the governor of Ituri, Luboya N’Kashama Johnny, in a statement.
Wakes were also suspended and ordered that the burials be carried out “under strict respect” of health protocols.
Johnny also announced “mandatory” prevention and hygiene measures, such as washing hands regularly with clean water and soap or use hydroalcoholic gel in public places.