A new Ebola case was confirmed on Friday in eastern DR Congo, just three days before a deadline that would have marked the end of the health crisis, the United Nations disclosed.
Unfortunately, the reported case means that the government of Congo won't be able to official declare an end to ebola on Monday, as everyone hoped, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated on Twitter.
Congo's health authorities said the case involved a 26-year-old man. It was the first reported case in 52 days. He developed symptoms on March 27 and passed away in the hospital, Thursday, regional health authorities said.
Congo has been fighting an Ebola epidemic that has claimed the lives of thousands for over 18 months, and today the country must also confront a new nightmare: coronavirus.
Ebola has rendered physically drained and afraid those living in the eastern part of the country, and just as they were bracing to quell the epidemic, a new case has emerged. Now, they would have to handle all risks simultaneously.
What Congo is now experiencing is a "triple emergency:" vulnerable populations faced with humanitarian crises, the spread of the virus, and today, potentially a re-emerging Ebola outbreak, Kate Moger, vice president of International Rescue Committee's Great Lakes region, pointed out.
The announcement was also seen as a possible boost to the country's anti-coronavirus initiative, which is essentially being battled on the same lines of detecting, isolating, and quarantining people who have been in contact with patients.
The new epidemic has overburdened some of the most well-equipped healthcare networks globally and tore through New York neighborhoods.
This could spread unchecked in Congo, a nation that has undergone decades of war, where inequality has left the population largely poor amid natural resources, and where mistrust of authority is so deep that health personnel were killed during the outbreak of Ebola.
It's also uncertain how foreign assistance will be at a period when the international community is fighting an invisible enemy.
Ebola has taken the lives of over 2,000 since August 2018 in a perilous region of the country where rebel atrocities crippled the government's efforts to stop it. Congo is also trying to deal with a measles epidemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had expected more cases in Congo to emerge and was prepared to respond, its head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
The agency's leading calamity expert, Mike Ryan, said that on the ground health teams are working hard to investigate 2,600 Ebola warnings across the two affected regions of Congo.
