29 March 2024 08:34 AM | Login

ECHO Daily Flash

eventtype  

DRC - Ebola outbreak

published on 11/10/2018
  • The pace of new infections of Ebola virus disease (EVD) has been increasing with 29 new confirmed cases within a week (2-9 October 2018). There are now 194 reported cases, out of which 159 are confirmed. 122 deaths are reported and 156 children orphaned as a result. Ten health districts are affected in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and Ituri since the outbreak was declared on 1 August 2018.
  • A number of newly reported EVD cases were non-contact related. In addition, not all known contacts could be followed up: while 2 732 contacts of (confirmed and/or probable) cases are currently being followed-up, this has not been possible with 434 known contacts. Another 58 contacts (confirmed and/or probable) are currently missing.
  • High insecurity is the main obstacle in the response to the Ebola outbreak with many non-state armed actors operating in North Kivu and Ituri.
  • The resistance of local communities to treatment, vaccination of known contacts, and safe and dignified burials continues to hamper the response. Numerous attacks on response teams have also been reported.
  • The World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the risk level to "very high" for a spread of the epidemic at national and regional level. Regional preparedness activities are ongoing, including in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. The risk at global level remains low.
Emergency Response Coordination Centre, echo-ercc@ec.europa.eu, +32 229 21112