The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) raised the death toll to 864 and confirmed cases to 2,181 from the Ebola outbreak declared in the east of the country on May 15. This week, just two months later, two thousand confirmed cases had already been exceeded. According to the latest bulletin from the Congolese Ministry of Communication and Media, with data collected until July 16, the fatality rate currently stands at 39.6%.

The report indicates that 56 new infections and 36 additional deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours. In addition, 722 patients are in a situation of “isolation or hospitalization” and 412 people have managed to recover from the disease, while the contact tracing rate rises to 66.9%.

Uganda, without new infections

So far, the eastern provinces of Ituri (epicenter of the epidemic), North Kivu, South Kivu and Haut-Uele, as well as the province of Tshopo (north-central) have been affected. “The response teams reinforce surveillance activities, early detection, patient care and contact tracing in order to contain the spread of the disease,” indicated the Communication portfolio.

Neighboring Uganda, where the epidemic spread, discharged this Thursday the last Ebola patient who remained admitted to the country, after having registered a total of 20 confirmed infections, including 15 cases considered imported from the DRC, among which there were two deaths. Uganda thus began the countdown of 42 days without new infections necessary to declare the end of the outbreak.

lgc (efe, rtr)