DRC health minister announces end of Ebola epidemic in country’s northeast

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | Congolese health minister Eteni Longondo announced on Thursday that the Ebola virus disease epidemic in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has ended.

According to the minister, this has been the longest and most complex Ebola epidemic in the history of the country. Only the epidemic in West Africa in 2013-2016 had claimed more victims.

Since the start of this tenth Ebola epidemic in August 2018, the country has reported a cumulative number of 3,470 infected cases, including 2,287 deaths, according to the minister. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic in north-eastern DRC a global health emergency in July 2019.

However, in early June 2020, the DRC announced that the country was again affected by the eleventh epidemic of the Ebola virus in the northwest of the country. Since then, 24 cases have been reported, including 13 deaths until June 23, according to WHO figures.