Border with DR Congo closed over Ebola threat: Rwanda

KIGALI, Rwanda

Rwanda announced on Thursday the country has closed its western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a bid to prevent the spread of Ebola, a day after a second person died of Ebola in the city of Goma.

"We have temporarily closed the border between Rwanda and the DRC in Rubavu district as a measure to prevent Ebola spread," Gilbert Habyarimana, the mayor of Rubavu district, told a news briefing in Rubavu.

Efforts to contact the Rwandan minister of health for comment were unsuccessful.

The latest death from the Ebola virus was announced on Wednesday in Goma, a city sharing borders with Rwanda’s Rubavu district in the west.

Thousands of people cross to and from Rwanda and the DRC daily using the closed border post.

Rwanda last month warned the public against unnecessary travel to Goma following the first confirmed case of the deadly Ebola outbreak.

Until Thursday’s development, screening for Ebola symptoms was taking place at the border post and people washed their hands among preventive measures.

Since the disease outbreak it is a similar situation at the DRC border with Uganda at Mpondwe border post, where travellers undergo Ebola screening and wash their hands with disinfectant.

Rwandans who spoke to Anadolu Agency on Thursday said the decision to close the border was not surprising.

"Goma is a source of my livelihood because it’s where I do my business, but the disease’s infectious nature necessitated the border closure. Many people continued to cross the border despite recent government warning to residents to avoid unnecessary travels to Goma," Jeannette Uwamahoro, an informal trader at the border, told Anadolu Agency.

But in a statement later Thursday the Ministry of Health denied the border closure, describing it as ‘traffic slow down.’

“The Ministry of Health confirms that Rwanda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo is open, following traffic slow-down this morning as measures were put in place to reinforce screening procedures and public safety at entry points,” the statement said.

The Africa Union’s Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention in July warned against stopping travels to DRC, arguing that it would impede ability to effectively control the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern", and the organization's director general praised Rwanda's ongoing Ebola preparedness efforts.

Rwanda has a detailed National Preparedness Plan in place and is training health workers in early detection and response, educating communities about Ebola, vaccinating health workers in high-risk areas, equipping health facilities, and conducting simulation exercises to maintain a high level of readiness, WHO said.

An Ebola Treatment Centre has been set up in Rwanda and 23 isolation units are being prepared in hospitals in 15 priority districts, according to the Health Ministry.

Earlier in the week, the ministry announced that Ebola case management and surveillance drills would be conducted at eight hospitals to further strengthen the capacity of first responders. The exercise launched on Thursday will end on Aug. 13.

The virus death toll in the DRC has risen to over 1,800 since its outbreak last year, according to figures published on Wednesday.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

The virus can also be reportedly transmitted among humans through contact with infected bodily fluids.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing over 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.