Ebola Screeners Boost Surveillance as Outbreak Becomes Emergency
Ebola Screeners Boost Surveillance as Outbreak Becomes Emergency
(Bloomberg) -- Authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo intensified efforts to screen suspected cases of Ebola as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency.
Checkpoints are being installed on roads in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu and near entrances to airports and border posts, Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, governor of Congo’s South Kivu province, said by phone. A case of the viral-hemorrhagic illness was detected for the first time this week in Goma, a sprawling city of about 1 million people near the border with Rwanda.
The outbreak that began in August has killed more than 1,500 people in Congo. The WHO on Wednesday signaled a new level of concern about the infection by declaring it an international public health emergency. It’s the worst epidemic of the disease since more than 11,000 people died in three West African nations between 2013 and 2016.
“Our main focus now is really to restrict people infected with the Ebola disease from traveling to other areas to infect other people,” Ngwabidje Kasi said by phone Thursday from Bukavu, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Goma. “We are putting Ebola screening checkpoints up to isolate the sick and prevent the spread of the disease.”
The WHO declaration came two days after a 46-year-old priest died from the disease after traveling from Butembo, one of the epicenters of the outbreak, to Goma. In early June, a few cases were confirmed in neighboring Uganda.
WHO officials said Wednesday there were currently no confirmed cases in Uganda, despite concerns about a woman who last week crossed the country’s border back into Congo and later died.
Rwandan Health Minister Diane Gashumba said the authorities have vaccinated 2,600 health workers to prepare for the possibility of the disease crossing the border from Congo.
“There is a need to be more vigilant and to avoid unnecessary visits to Goma,” she said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Karl Maier
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