There are no more cases of Ebola in the DRC

Text by: RFI Follow

There are officially no more Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Tuesday March 3, the World Health Organization announced that the last patient had left the Beni treatment center in North Kivu, in the east, in good health.

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It is not yet the end of the epidemic, but it is a victory: Béni is the last area affected by Ebola in the DRC . For Mory Keita, the WHO coordinator in the region, we must remain cautious. " It is really considered to be very good news, but the watchword remains continuous vigilance. One of the points that was also stressed was vaccination. We continue to vaccinate anyone who wants to be vaccinated. The mayor reiterated this message Tuesday at the exit of the patient. So the population of Béni continues to remain vigilant until the end of the epidemic. "

The end of the epidemic will be announced if there are no more Ebola positive cases for 42 consecutive days . The countdown started on Monday, when the last patient with the virus, the one who left this Tuesday of the Béni treatment center, was tested negative.

In the region, we also remain vigilant because the authorities' optimism has been called into question several times. In February 2019, it was after 23 days with no recorded cases that a new patient was reported. But at the time, the virus was hitting other parts of the country , unlike today.

Since the start of the epidemic in August 2018, 3,440 cases of Ebola have been detected in the DRC, and 2,264 people have died from the disease.

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• DRC
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