Beni (DR Congo) (AFP)
There are no longer any confirmed cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the discharge of the last patient still hospitalized in a treatment center on Tuesday, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO regional director, Dr. Mathsidiso Moeti, declared on Twitter "cautiously optimistic" that the epidemic officially declared on August 1, 2018 will soon come to an end.
The epidemic will be officially over "as soon as 42 days have been reached with no new cases registered," said a WHO spokesperson in Kinshasa.
"No new cases have been confirmed for the 13th consecutive day," said the daily epidemiological bulletin from the Ministry of Health on Monday's data. "350 suspected cases are under investigation," it added.
The last patient left Tuesday the Ebola Treatment Center (CTE) in Beni, the last affected area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is a woman, Masika Mawasu Semida, who thanked the health personnel after leaving the CTE.
"WHO will continue to support the Ministry of Health in strengthening the health system at all levels," said local WHO spokesperson Mory Keita.
With 2,264 victims, the tenth Ebola epidemic recorded on Congolese soil since 1976 is the second most serious in history after that which affected West Africa in 2014 (more than 11,000 deaths mainly in Liberia, in Guinea and Sierra Leone).
The city of Beni has registered the highest number of cases (730 out of 3,444) and deaths (474 out of 2,264) since the declaration of the epidemic on August 1, 2018 in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.
In February 2019, a new Ebola patient was discovered in Beni after 23 days without new cases, questioning the authorities' optimism. There were other hotbeds of the epidemic at the time.
Nearly 320,000 people have been vaccinated. WHO made this epidemic an international health emergency last July, when it threatened neighboring countries (Rwanda, Uganda).
The DRC is not officially affected by the global spread of the coronavirus.
© 2020 AFP