Congo | Pakistan

UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed on Saturday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province worst-hit by a severe Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organisation’s director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but “at the same time, community ownership is important”. He said that was the reason for his trip: “We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help.” The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded. There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to...

The risk from the deadly Ebola outbreak has been raised to the highest level for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday, as the toll continues to rise. The WHO upgraded its risk assessment level from high to very high for the DRC, while keeping the regional risk level at high and the global risk level at low. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation was “deeply worrisome”. He said there were now nearly 750 suspected cases in the DRC and 177 suspected deaths, as health workers scramble to track down contacts of everyone thought to be infected with the virus. “The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly,” he told a press conference. “So far, 82 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with seven confirmed deaths. “But we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger. There are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths.” He said the situation in Uganda was “stable”, with two cases confirmed in people who travelle...

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday expressed concern at the speed and scale of the Ebola outbreak in central Africa — declared a “continental” emergency — as the number of deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) jumped to 131. The toll from the Ebola outbreak in the DRC has risen to an estimated 131 deaths from 513 suspected cases, health minister Samuel Roger Kamba said. There has also been one death in neighbouring Uganda. However, speaking to Congolese national television overnight, Kamba cautioned that the toll was an estimate and further research was needed to confirm whether all 131 suspected deaths were indeed linked to Ebola. No vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola behind the latest outbreak of the deadly disease, which has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half century. The outbreak’s epicentre is in the northeastern Ituri province on the border with Uganda and South Sudan, whose status as a gold-mining hub leads to people ...

By the time health officials confirmed new Ebola infections in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week, the total number of suspected cases meant the outbreak was already one of the largest on record. A series of challenges and missteps delayed detection, two Congolese officials familiar with the response told Reuters, allowing the disease to spread undetected into rebel-held territory in the east and across the border to the capital of Uganda. Local funeral practices helped the virus spread before any alarm was raised, diagnostic tests in a local laboratory were calibrated for the wrong strain of Ebola, and samples sent to Kinshasa were not stored or shipped properly, the officials said. Experts say the resulting delays risk hobbling efforts to contain the outbreak, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the weekend declared a public health emergency of international concern. “It’s just a scattered mess right now. I don’t think we have anything close to a real idea of how many cases there are,” ...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Sunday declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern”, posing risks to neighbouring countries. The WHO said the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency, but that countries sharing land borders with the DRC are at high risk for further spread. The UN health agency said in a statement that 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases had been reported as of Saturday in the DRC’s Ituri province across at least three health zones, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu. International spread documented, WHO says The DRC health ministry had said on Friday that 80 people had died in the new outbreak in the eastern province. The 17th outbreak in the country, where Ebola was first identified in 1976, could in fact be much larger, given the high positivity rate of the initial samples and increasing number of su...

More than 200 people were killed this week in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told Reuters on Friday. Rubaya produces around 15pc of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines. The site, where locals dig manually for a few dollars per day, has been under the control of the AFC/M23 rebel group since 2024. The collapse occurred on Wednesday and the precise toll was still unclear as of Friday evening. “More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” Muyisa said, adding that about 20 injured people were being treated in health facilities. “We are in the rainy season. The ground is fragile. It was the ground ...

DR Congo city sees influx of people fleeing fighting

Another patient died of Congo fever on Thursday in Karachi, as the number of fatalities from the disease reached two this year in Sindh, a statement from the district health officer in Malir said. Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo Virus, causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation. There is no vaccine available for the disease. Per experts, the CCHF virus is primarily transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter. In April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued an advisory urging the prevention of Congo fever ahead of Eidul Azha. A 25-year-old man, Zubair, a fisherman from Ibrahim Hyderi, passed away on Thursday morning, a day after the disease was confirmed, said a report by DHO Malir Dr Imdad Ali Chandio. The victim butchered animals continuously for two days on June 7-8 during Eid. On J...

Sindh reported its first death of the year from the Congo fever as a 42-year-old man in Karachi passed away after being diagnosed a day earlier, as per a statement from the provincial health ministry’s media coordinator on Wednesday. According to the WHO, the Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo Virus, causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent. There is no vaccine available for the disease. According to experts, the CCHF virus is primarily transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter. In April, the National Institute of Health (NIH) issued an advisory urging prevention of Congo fever ahead of Eidul Azha. The 42-year-old man, a resident of District Malir, was admitted to Indus Hospital in Korangi, where he tested positive for CCHF on June 16, Media coordinator for the Sindh health ministry, Meeran Yousuf told Dawn.com. The patient passed away...