{"id":126669,"date":"2026-05-30T18:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=126669"},"modified":"2026-05-30T18:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:28:09","slug":"who-chief-visits-epicentre-of-ebola-outbreak-in-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126669\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO chief visits epicentre of Ebola outbreak in DR Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

United Nation(National Times)- UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed on Saturday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province worst-hit by a\u00a0severe Ebola outbreak<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Health Organisation\u2019s director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but \u201cat the same time, community ownership is important\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that was the reason for his trip: \u201cWe are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever<\/a> is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths<\/a>, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected<\/a>, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vast, unstable central African country \u2014 whose impoverished east has been plagued by three decades of conflict \u2014 has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Conflict and Ebola<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and ordered a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, the WHO announced that a patient had recovered on Wednesday, left hospital and was discharged into the community after two negative tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO\u2019s Anais Legand told reporters in Geneva it marked the \u201cfirst\u201d among patients who had been confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement of the latest outbreak that \u201cnever has an Ebola epidemic recorded so many cases in the first days after it being declared\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the numbers of medical experts being deployed to the region was still insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State services are largely lacking<\/a> in Ituri province, where access is hindered by insecurity due to the presence of Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces militants and other militias that regularly kill civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nearby North and South Kivu provinces, which have also seen Ebola cases in the outbreak, have been plagued by near-continuous violence for three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swathes of the region are controlled by the Rwanda-backed armed group M23 which has been battling government forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of people have fled the fighting and are living in displacement camps with poor hygiene conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly a million of those displaced are in Ituri province, where the prospect of the epidemic spreading throughout the camps has sparked alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Ebola comes, we\u2019ll be wiped out as we\u2019re packed like sardines,\u201d Dorcas Mapenzi said at the Kingonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the head of the CDC Africa said on Thursday that a vaccine should be ready by the end of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United Nation(National Times)- UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed on Saturday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province worst-hit by a\u00a0severe Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organisation\u2019s director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but \u201cat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nWHO chief visits epicentre of Ebola outbreak in DR Congo - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126669\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHO chief visits epicentre of Ebola outbreak in DR Congo - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"United Nation(National Times)- UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed on Saturday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province worst-hit by a\u00a0severe Ebola outbreak. 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