Ebola death toll tops 200, other African countries also at risk

A health ministry statement said 867 suspected cases have been reported in three provinces of the vast Central African country, with 204 deaths. The latest statistics released by the World Health Organization on Friday put the death toll at 177 out of 750 suspected cases.

The World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of highly contagious hemorrhagic fever an international emergency.

The African Union health agency warned on Saturday that more countries on the continent were at risk of Ebola infection, in addition to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

“We have 10 countries at risk,” said Jean Kasea, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Kasea said the region’s “high mobility and insecurity” contributed to the spread of the disease.

Uganda reported new confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the East African country and the Democratic Republic of Congo to five since cases were detected on May 15. One person has died in Uganda.

The ministry named the new patients as a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everyone is still alive.

Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with body fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.

The current outbreak, concentrated in conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was detected in Ituri province on the border with Uganda before spreading to South Kivu province.

– First known victim –

Three Congolese volunteers have died after contracting Ebola in Ituri, the Red Cross said on Saturday.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the three “carried out body disposal activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission not related to Ebola”.

“At the time of the intervention, the community was unaware of the Ebola virus disease outbreak… and they were among the first known victims.”

Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past half century.

The World Health Organization on Friday raised the risk of Ebola infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo to its highest level, “very high.”

The report said the risk was “high” in Central Africa but remained “low” globally.

Experts suspect the outbreak, which has been spreading under the radar for some time, is caused by the less common strain of Bundibugyo, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.

On Thursday, Uganda suspended public transport to the Democratic Republic of Congo after confirming its first two cases, one infected and one dead, involving Congolese nationals who crossed the border.

A sick Congolese national was said to have traveled to Uganda in a vehicle driven by the driver who was diagnosed with the virus on Saturday.

The health worker was exposed to the virus while treating Congolese patients.

The third case is a Congolese woman who visited Uganda and tested positive for Ebola upon her return to Congo.

-“Everyone’s Problem”-

For three decades, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by conflicts involving numerous armed groups.

For decades, state services have been largely absent in rural areas of Ituri.

South Kivu is controlled by the M23, a Rwandan-backed armed group that has never dealt with an epidemic like Ebola.

“This is everyone’s problem,” Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told a news conference with Kasea in Addis Ababa.

He said the Kinshasa government needed “total control” of the DRC territory to stop the spread of the virus.

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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.