Rwanda Says Ebola Threat Prompts Extra Measures at Congo Border
Rwanda Closes Its Border With Congo Over Threat of Ebola
(Bloomberg) -- Rwanda’s health ministry said it’s implementing new border safety measures as an Ebola outbreak in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo claimed more lives.
There was “traffic slowdown this morning as measures were put in place to reinforce screening procedures and public safety at entry points,” the east African country’s ministry said Thursday on its website.
The state minister for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, had earlier said the Rwandan boundary was temporarily closed.
The announcement came as Congolese health authorities said a one-year-old had become the third fatality of the Ebola virus in the eastern city of Goma. A trade hub of about 1 million people, Goma borders the Rwandan city of Gisenyi.
The World Health Organization declared the second-deadliest outbreak of Ebola virus in history an international public health emergency in July. The United nations agency had asked that trade and borders not be closed so that food and supplies can still reach people in the region.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn
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