WHO raises Ebola risk to 'very high' in DR Congo
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has raised the national risk level for the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo to 'very high.' The risk for five neighbouring countries was set at 'high'; the global risk remains 'low.' Confirmed cases have reached 678 and deaths 154.
The WHO announced at an emergency Geneva press conference on Friday that confirmed cases have reached 678 and deaths rose by 24 over the past six days to 154. Tedros said: 'The outbreak is moving beyond previous corridors; confirmations have been made in South Kivu province beyond Ituri and North Kivu.' Field hospitals in Bunia and Goma have reached 92 percent capacity.
Three factors drove the WHO risk reassessment: the inability to conduct contact tracing in M23-controlled areas, the partial match of the Ervebo vaccine against the current strain, and the spread risk to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and South Sudan across active border crossings. Flight screening and thermal scanning protocols have been activated in the five border countries. Africa CDC said it has deployed 380 additional health workers to the field and released 50,000 doses of Ervebo from stockpile.
A High-Level Conference for international donor coordination, set for June 28 in Geneva, has identified an initial target of $285 million in emergency funding. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC announced it has dispatched five laboratories and 60 epidemiologists. The European Commission has approved €65 million in humanitarian aid from the ECHO budget. International travel restrictions are not yet recommended; however, WHO said it could decide within the next three weeks whether the outbreak is 'containable' or 'significantly expanding.'
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