Panafrican News Agency

WHO reports nine new Ebola cases in eastern DR Congo

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  Nine new confirmed cases were reported from 27 November to 3 December in the ongoing Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces from Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement Friday.

In the past two weeks, violence, widespread civil unrest, and targeted attacks have severely disrupted the Ebola response and restricted access to affected communities in multiple locations, the WHO said.

The overall average percentage of contacts under surveillance in the last seven days is 70%, which is below the average for November prior to these security events.

In the past 21 days, according to the UN agency, 22 confirmed cases were reported from 10 of the 71 health areas within four neighbouring active health zones in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

As of 3 December, a total of 3,313 EVD cases were reported, including 3,195 confirmed and 118 probable cases, of which 2,207 cases died, it said.

-0- PANA TWA/VAO 6Dec2019