We are much better placed to tackle latest Ebola outbreak, says WHO
It’s concerning that we now have cases in an urban centre but we are much better placed … than we were in 2014 … vaccination is starting as we speak today
Geneva/Mbandaka — The spread of Ebola to a major city in Democratic Republic of Congo is worrying, but the outlook is much more optimistic than when a major outbreak was reported in West Africa in 2014, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Monday. "It’s concerning that we now have cases of Ebola in an urban centre, but we are much better placed to deal with this outbreak than we were in 2014," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom told health ministers at the start of the WHO’s annual assembly. "I’m pleased to say that vaccination is starting as we speak today." DRC Health Minister Oly Ilunga said on Monday that the death toll from the outbreak had risen to 26, after a person died in the northwest city of Mbandaka. "A death was recorded (on Sunday), while two people who had been confirmed as ill with the Ebola virus were cured on Saturday," he said. "The two people who were cured have returned to their families," he told reporters. Those two cases occurred at Bikoro, a re...
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