Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Coronavirus has swiftly gained status as the world’s No. 1 threat but in eastern DR Congo, one of Africa’s most volatile regions, militia killings and ethnic violence are an older and — for now — far greater source of dread. Some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 …
Read More »MSF doctors return to Guinea to fight virus
Conakry, Guinea | AFP | Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reopened its Ebola-era hospital in Guinea, only four years since that epidemic ended, as coronavirus cases soar in the West African state. The country is struggling to curb the virus, despite enacting imposing travel restrictions and a night-time curfew, raising fears …
Read More »VIDEO: When Dr Tedros warned that world is vulnerable to pandemics
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & AFP | Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization who has been criticised by the US for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, warned for years that countries were not prepared in case one broke out. The most shocking outbreak at …
Read More »Ebola outbreak: Uganda tightens health surveillance along Lake Albert shores
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | There is heightened health surveillance and security along Lake Albert shores in Bunyoro districts following the fresh outbreak of Ebola in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC. Over the weekend, DRC reported three cases of the highly contagious fever in the eastern part of the …
Read More »DR Congo Ebola outbreak still international emergency: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization said Tuesday it was extending its global emergency designation of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after fresh cases were detected. The announcement comes just a day after the vast central African country had been expected to announce that its outbreak was …
Read More »Security tightened at Katwe landing site after new ebola cases in DRC
Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Marine Security and surveillance on Lake Edward, on the border side of Kasese District, has been beefed up after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recorded new cases of Ebola in the country’s eastern side. The first case was a 26-year-old electrician from Beni, a …
Read More »In DR Congo, a pioneering doctor fights Ebola and coronavirus
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Few generals would choose to fight a war on two fronts, against a foe that is nearly invisible and at times seems to have the terrifying ability to surface anywhere. Yet this is exactly the mission that Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe has taken upon himself, and …
Read More »DR Congo ex-ministers jailed for stealing Ebola funds
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo’s former health minister, who led the fight against a deadly Ebola outbreak, was sentenced to jail along with a colleague on Monday for stealing funds destined to fight the disease. Oly Ilunga was sentenced to five years in jail by the Court of Cassation, while the former …
Read More »DRC hopes to declare end to Ebola outbreak next month
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo health officials said Monday they were “keeping fingers crossed” to declare a deadly 19-month Ebola epidemic over next month, while monitoring former patients for signs of the virus. While the world’s attention has been focused on the coronavirus, the last patient under …
Read More »DRC discharges last ebola patient from a treatment facility
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The DRC has discharged the last Ebola patient from a treatment center located in the North Eastern town of Beni according to the country’s Ministry of Health. Thishis comes after more than a year after an Ebola outbreak was declared in DRC in August 2018. …
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