Ebola outbreak adds to World Health Organisation’s response in Africa

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported eight cases of Ebola, which included four deaths, in the city of Mbandaka, in the Équateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“This outbreak is in the same area as a previous outbreak in 2018, which was stopped in just three months,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“However, it is on the other side of the country to the Ebola outbreak that the WHO, and its partners, have been fighting for almost two years in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, in the eastern DRC.

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“The latest person confirmed with Ebola attended the burial of one of the first cases, but was detected in the town of Bikoro, 150kms away from Mbandaka.

“This means that two health zones are now affected.”

Almost 50 responders from the WHO and its partners arrived in Mbandaka yesterday, along with 3 600 doses of Ebola vaccine and 2 000 cartridges for lab testing.

“The government is now sequencing the virus to see whether or not it is related to a previous outbreak.

“This is an important reminder that even as the WHO focuses on responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, we continue to monitor and respond to many other health emergencies,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

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• Covid-19:

By June 3, more than 100 000 cases of Covid-19 had been reported to the WHO for each of the past five days.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Americas continue to account for the most cases.

“For several weeks, the number of cases reported each day in the Americas has been more than the rest of the world put together.

“We are especially worried about Central and South America, where many countries are witnessing accelerating epidemics,” he said.

“We also see increasing numbers of cases in the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and Africa, although the numbers are much smaller.”

The number of cases in Europe continues to decline.

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The WHO’s response to the global pandemic in recent weeks included:

• A new case report form for suspected cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.
• Operational guidance on maintaining essential health services.
• Guidance on controlling the spread of Covid-19 at ground crossings.
• Planning recommendations for mass gatherings.
• A protocol for surveillance of infections among health workers.
• Ethical considerations for the use of digital technologies in tracking Covid-19.
• Updated guidelines on the clinical management of patients with Covid-19.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that the executive group of the Solidarity Trial decided to implement a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm of the trial, because of concerns raised about the safety of the drug.

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“This decision was taken as a precaution while the safety data were reviewed.

“The data safety and monitoring committee of the Solidarity Trial has been reviewing the data,” he said.

He said that based on the available mortality data, the members of the committee recommended that there are no reasons to modify the trial protocol.

“The executive group received this recommendation and endorsed the continuation of all arms of the Solidarity Trial, including hydroxychloroquine.

“The group will communicate with the principal investigators in the trial about resuming the hydroxychloroquine arm,” he said.

He added that the data safety and monitoring committee will continue to monitor the safety of all therapeutics being tested in the Solidarity Trial.

So far, more than 3 500 patients have been recruited in 35 countries.

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