ZCZC
BFF-33
DRCONGO-HEALTH-EBOLA
Record 26 Ebola deaths in DRCongo in a single day
BUTEMBO, DR Congo, April 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Twenty-six people died of
Ebola in a single day in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu
province, the highest daily toll since its outbreak nearly nine months ago,
the health ministry said Tuesday.
The current outbreak is the second deadliest on record, after the epidemic
that struck West Africa in 2014-2016 and killed more than 11,300 people.
The health ministry it had counted 957 deaths in the country, of which 891
were confirmed cases and 66 suspected ones.
“There were 26 deaths from confirmed cases” on Sunday, April 28, in the
northeastern North Kivu province, the ministry said in a statement.
It said of the total deaths of 957, 33 were health workers who had
succumbed to the disease.
The DR Congo declared a tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years last August in
North Kivu before the virus spread into the neighbouring Ituri region.
The epicentre was first located in the rural area of Mangina, but then
switched to the town of Beni.
Local organisations say the number of Ebola deaths is rising.
Adding to the logistical hitches are a string of assaults on teams
fighting the disease.
A Cameroonian doctor working for the World Health Organization (WHO),
Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, was shot dead on April 19.
“We will not be intimidated… we will finish our work,” said WHO chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a visit to Nord-Kivu on Monday.
“Your security is our priority. We will do everything to protect you,” he
added.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1700 hrs