The World Health Organization declared the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday. The announcement comes 42 days (two 21-day incubation cycles of the virus) after the last confirmed Ebola patient in the affected Bas-Uele province tested negative for the disease for the second time, the WHO said in a statement on its website.
“With the end of this epidemic, DRC has once again proved to the world that we can control the very deadly Ebola virus if we respond early in a coordinated and efficient way,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
The effective response to this latest EVD outbreak in Africa was achieved through the timely alert by local authorities of suspect cases, immediate testing of blood samples and the early announcement of the outbreak by the government. Related to the outbreak, four people died, and four people survived the disease.
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