DR Congo declares end to 16th Ebola outbreak

Transcript

00:00A ceremony was held in Kinshasa to mark the end of the DRC's latest Ebola outbreak.

00:11The infectious disease has been declared over after 42 days elapsed since the last patient

00:16was discharged.

00:18The outbreak was first reported in the Bulape and Mweka Health Zones in Kasai Province on

00:22September 4.

00:24The province has poor roads and telecommunication facilities, which made it difficult for health

00:29workers to reach and treat patients, but a coordinated response by the health ministry

00:34and international partners like the World Health Organization has succeeded in ending

00:39the outbreak.

00:44After taking into account all the scientific indicators which prove that the chain of transmission

00:49has been cut, I officially declare the end of the 16th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic

00:55Republic of Congo.

00:57Samples tested at the country's national laboratory in the capital, Kinshasa, confirmed

01:04the latest Ebola outbreak was caused by the Zaire strain.

01:08Scientists say Ebola is transmitted from infected animals like fruit bats and spreads rapidly through

01:14direct contact with infected people.

01:16Its symptoms include headache, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.

01:21The DRC recorded one of its worst Ebola outbreaks in the country's east in 2018.

01:26More than 2,000 people were killed in that outbreak.

01:29The country now has thousands of doses of vaccines to protect against Ebola, which is endemic in

01:35provinces with dense forests.

01:37The latest outbreak was the 16th to occur since the disease was first discovered in 1976.

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