DR Congo reports 1,094 Ebola cases in first month, highest-ever tally: WHO

The Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC has reported 1094 confirmed Ebola cases including 277 deaths in the current outbreak declared on May 15 with the World Health Organization WHO registering a record firstmonth caseloadOfficial data released Tuesday showed 387 cases were under quarantine or receiving treatment and 115 recoveries DRC authorities have also reported 131 suspected cases including 44 suspected deathsIn its daily epidemiological report the health ministry noticed an increase in confirmed cases on a weekly basis consistent with ongoing community transmissionsIt said intensified public health measures including stronger epidemiological and laboratory surveillance as well as the decentralisation of diagnostic capacity have contributed to earlier detection confirming expanded community transmission reports Xinhua news agencyThis is the largest number of confirmed cases in the first month of an Ebola disease outbreak in Africa Abdirahman Mahamud director of Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations at the WHO told a press briefing in Geneva on TuesdayMahamud pointed to encouraging signs that the response was expanding to keep pace with the spread Treatment capacity has increased over the past two weeks going from a handful to over 500 beds across 19 health zones he saidLaboratory capacity has also been sharply expanded from around 30 tests per day in the capital Kinshasa at the start of the outbreak to more than 2000 tests per day through a network of eight decentralised laboratories across Ituri North Kivu and South Kivu provinces he saidDRC President Felix Tshisekedi said Tuesday that he would soon travel to Ituri province the epicentre of the outbreak to follow up on response operations on the groundHe made the remarks at a joint press conference in Kinshasa with visiting Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the African UnionPrior to the press conference the two leaders were briefed on the DRCs epidemiological situation and response measures at a meeting with the Central African countrys national Ebola response task forceTo contain the Ebola outbreak Tshisekedi also called for stronger regional cooperation based on prevention epidemiological surveillance and rapid informationsharingNdayishimiye urged African countries and the wider international community not to close bordersUganda which borders the DRCs Ituri province that has accounted for about 90 per cent of the infections has confirmed one more Ebola case bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 20 including 14 recoveries and two deaths according to the latest data from its health ministryFifteen of the reported cases were imported it saidAlso on Tuesday Uganda and the DRC launched crossborder collaboration to fight the Ebola outbreak covering shared surveillance and joint deployment of rapid response teams mobile laboratories and Ebola treatment centresAccording to a WHO update released on Friday last week the Ebolarelated health risk in the DRC remained very high because of ongoing transmissions and continued expansion of the outbreak into new health zones increasing the potential for further national and regional spreadMeanwhile the risk in Uganda remained high due to confirmed crossborder spread through imported cases and the epidemiological links along the eastern DRCwestern Uganda corridorThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever