Africa health body warns 10 countries 'at risk' of Ebola outbreak

Ten African nations are “at risk” of the Ebola virus disease outbreak following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned on Saturday.

The ten countries include Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Zambia, Jean Kaseya, head of Africa CDC, said during a virtual briefing on the continent’s health situation in the face of the Ebola epidemic.

With the exception of Ethiopia, all the listed countries facing the risk border the DR Congo or Uganda, which have recorded Ebola cases so far.

The Africa CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) also announced a funding appeal for over $314 million to finance response interventions.

The bulk of the budget is intended for Congo and Uganda for treatment, surveillance, and prevention of the epidemic, while the other 10 high-risk countries would share $54 million.

Interventions highlighted include the establishment of national incident management systems and cross-border coordination in regional countries, acceleration of research on vaccines specific to the Bundibugyo strain, deployment of additional teams, and the pre-positioning of emergency stocks before the transmission accelerates.

The DR Congo has witnessed a spike in Ebola cases since an outbreak was declared on May 15 in the Ituri province.

The disease has spread to North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

About 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths have been reported, according to the WHO.

At least 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in DR Congo.

Three new cases were announced in Uganda on Saturday, bringing to five the total confirmed cases since the current outbreak, according to the Health Ministry.

Congolese authorities have suspended social activities in Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, including sports, to prevent the spread.

Gen. Johnny Luboya, the military governor, in a statement, also banned gatherings of more than 50 people throughout Bunia, Rwampara, Mungwalu and Nyakunde health zones affected by surging cases of Ebola.

The WHO has raised the alert level to “very high,” and several neighboring countries have intensified preventive measures to prevent the virus from spreading, including restricting travel from DR Congo.