WHO declares ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo an international emergency
發佈日期: 2026-05-18 21:55
TVB News
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda are scrambling to contain an Ebola outbreak. This, after the World Health Organization declares it a public health emergency of international concern.
DRC health minister Samuel Roger Kamba says authorities already selected sites in Rwampara and Mongwalu to establish new treatment centres and that dozens of patients were receiving active care.
Kamba was speaking in Bunia where he arrived to check the setting up of treatment areas.
Health officials in Bunia, one of the main cities affected by the outbreak in eastern DRC's Ituri province, says treatment centres are being expanded as hospitals struggled to cope with the growing number of patients.
The measures follow the decision of the World Health Organization to declare an Ebola outbreak caused by a rare virus strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
The WHO says the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19 and advised against closing international borders.
The earliest known suspected case involved a 59-year-old man who developed symptoms on April 24 and died at a hospital in the DRC's Ituri province on April 27.
By the time health authorities were first alerted to the outbreak on May 5, 50 deaths had already been recorded, according to Africa CDC.
The World Health Organization says at least four healthcare workers showing Ebola symptoms had also died. WHO representative Anne Ancia says additional medical supplies were being airlifted into the country after emergency stockpiles in Kinshasa were depleted during the initial response.
She says a C-130 cargo plane loaded with equipment was being prepared in Nairobi before heading to the DRC.
