The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that a new case of Ebola has been confirmed in the DR Congo.
The announcement on Friday came just days before the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak was expected to be declared over.
The new case was confirmed in Beni, a town at the heart of the epidemic in the eastern part of the DR Congo. According to reports, the patient died on Thursday morning in a hospital after showing symptoms several days earlier.
The multisectoral committee for the response to the epidemic said in a statement that preliminary information shows that he is a 26-year-old man in Beni territory.
The committee added that its teams, in collaboration with the WHO, are already on the ground to deepen the investigations and implement public health actions.
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Until Friday, no new cases had been registered since February 17. The country planned on Sunday to declare an end to the outbreak. The outbreak which emerged in August 2018 has since killed more than 2,200 people.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also confirmed this in a Twitter Post. He said: After 52 days without a case, surveillance & response teams on the ground have confirmed a new Ebola case. We have been preparing for and expecting more cases. Unfortunately, this means DRC will not be able to declare an end to the Ebola outbreak on Monday, as hoped. But WHO remains on the ground and committed as ever to working with the government, affected communities and our partners to end the outbreak.”
Health officials say the use of unlicensed, but tested, vaccines has played a major part in rolling back the disease.
