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Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has discharged it’s last Ebola patient from a treatment centre in a town of Beni, amid jubilation.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports a 42-day countdown began on 2 March to declaring the end of the world’s second-deadliest epidemic, after no further cases have been confirmed.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, had commended tireless efforts that have been made to respond to Ebola outbreak.
“I applaud the tireless efforts that have been made to respond to this outbreak and I’m truly encouraged by the news that the last Ebola patient has left the treatment centre healthy,” Dr Moeti said.
Although the patient has been allowed to leave, 46 people who had come in contact with her are still being monitored, according to report.
“It is not yet the end of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We must stay vigilant in the coming weeks and beyond,” Moeti noted.
Meanwhile, all the aspects of the Ebola response remain in place to ensure that any new cases are detected quickly and treated.
The end of the outbreak can only be ascertained when no infections arise 42 days after the last reported case has tested negative.
The current outbreak, which was declared on 1 August 2018, is the DRC’s tenth and the second-worst globally after the 2014–2016 epidemic in West Africa.
As of 1 March, there were 3,444 confirmed and probable cases and 2,264 deaths.
Surveillance, pathogen detection and clinical management are ongoing, including validating alerts, monitoring the remaining contacts, supporting rapid diagnostics of suspected cases and working with community members to strengthen surveillance on deaths in the communities.
Countdown to the end of Ebola is coming at a time another epidemic, novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is hitting hard globally.