- Title: Current Ebola outbreak is worst in Congo's history - ministry
- Date: 10th November 2018
- Summary: BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS WASHING HANDS
- Embargoed: 24th November 2018 15:26
- Keywords: Ebola Ebola virus Congo DRC health ministry Ebola outbreak
- Location: KINSHASA AND BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- City: KINSHASA AND BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA00395X9RGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING
The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the most severe in the country's history with 319 confirmed and probable cases, the health ministry said late on Friday (November 9).
The haemorrhagic fever is believed to have killed 198 people in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, where attacks by armed groups and community resistance to health officials have complicated the response.
Congo has suffered 10 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered near the eponymous Ebola River in 1976.
With over 300 cases the epidemic also ranks as third worst in the history of the continent, following the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa where over 28,000 cases were confirmed and an outbreak in Uganda in 2000 involving 425 cases.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday (November 8) that security represented the primary challenge in the current epidemic, followed by community mistrust.
The confirmation of new cases has accelerated in the last month and an emergency committee of World Health Organization experts said in October that the outbreak was likely to worsen significantly unless the response was stepped up. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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