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Congo health minister confirms 3 more Ebola cases

Saturday, 19 May 2018 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 19 May 2018 2:01 PM ]

In this photo taken on May 14, 2018, members of a Red Cross team don protective clothing before heading out to look for suspected victims of Ebola, in Mbandaka, Congo. (Photo by AP)

Three new Ebola cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's sprawling northwest, taking the number of suspected infections to 43, Health Minister Oly Ilungao says.

"Three new cases were reported (in Mbandaka) and tested positive for the Ebola virus," Ilungao said in a statement seen on Saturday.

"In total, 43 cases of hemorrhagic fever have been flagged in the region of which 17 are confirmed, 21 are probable and five are suspected cases," he added.

Alarm bells sounded on Thursday after the outbreak, previously reported in a remote rural area of the country, notched up its first confirmed case in Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million.

In Geneva, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) put the death toll at 25, but said 45 cases have been recorded, 14 of which have been confirmed by lab tests.

WHO on Friday said the latest Ebola outbreak did not warrant being labeled an emergency of "international concern," adding that Kinshasa's response along with its own had been "rapid and comprehensive."

PressTV-WHO: Congo faces 'very high' risk from Ebola outbreak

An Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo has a high risk of spreading internally, the World Health Organization says.

In a statement, the UN agency said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would convene an emergency committee to discuss the matter.

The government announced the outbreak of the deadly virus in northwestern Equateur province on May 8.

In the WHO's parlance, "a public health emergency of international concern" is an "extraordinary event" in which a disease may spread across borders and requires a vigorous international response.

Ebola is both lethal and highly contagious, which makes it difficult to contain -- especially in urban environments where people are mobile and come into more contact with others.

It is notorious for its high fatality rate and extreme symptoms, which can include internal and external bleeding.

The current outbreak -- the ninth to hit the DRC since Ebola was identified in 1976 -- involves the same strain of the virus that struck three West African countries in 2013-15 and sparked an international panic. It went on to kill more than 11,300 people in the deadliest ever.

(Source: AFP)

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