By Abiola Olawale
Amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), recorded its first fatality from the Ebola virus disease three months after health authorities in the country declared an end to the viral disease.
Health authorities in DR Congo had on November 18, declared that Ebola outbreak has ended, as no case of the virus was recorded.
But the health ministry of DR Congo announced on state television RTNC, on Sunday, that there was a resurgence of the Ebola virus as a case was recorded in the Biena health zone of North Kivu province.
The health ministry confirmed that the victim was a farmer, who was the wife to a survivor of Ebola.
They stated that the victim started showing symptoms on February 1, and a test was subsequently conducted, which came out positive for Ebola. However, all medical intervention proved abortive as she lost her life to the disease on February 3.
It would be recalled that Ebola’s first case was reported in 1976, at two different countries, Nzara, a town in South Sudan and Yambuku a town in DR Congo. From 1976, when the virus broke out, there have been 27 other outbreaks.
The last Ebola outbreak in the DRC began from August 1, 2018, to June 25, 2020, and went down as the country’s worst-ever outbreak, as 2,277 deaths were recorded.
The virus is very deadly and dangerous as it spreads through direct contact with body fluids such as blood from infected humans or animals, sweat, among others. According to the World Health Organization, the disease has a high risk of death, as an average of about 50% of its victims lost their lives to the virus.
The symptoms are severe: high fever and muscle pain followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, skin eruptions, kidney and liver failure, internal and external bleeding.
On the other hand, DR Congo has recorded over 23,500 coronavirus cases and at least 680 deaths in a population of around 80 million people.
