23 March 2021•Update: 23 March 2021
ANKARA
The countdown to announce the end of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began after the last Ebola patient was discharged Monday from a health center in Katwa city, the WHO said Tuesday.
“The last #Ebola patient in #DRC was discharged from a treatment centre in Katwa yesterday! With no more confirmed Ebola cases,” the WHO African Region tweeted.
This came “just 37 days after the resurgence of the virus,” it added.
During the recent 12th Ebola outbreak in the Central African country, six deaths and 12 cases were confirmed while 1,737 people were vaccinated against the virus, according to recent figures announced by the WHO Africa Region.
The DRC announced a new outbreak on Feb. 7 in the eastern part after a case was identified near Butembo in North Kivu Province, more than two months after the end of the last outbreak.
On Nov. 18, the DRC announced the end of the 11th epidemic that hit the northwestern Equateur Province.
According to the WHO figures, the DRC’s 10th Ebola outbreak which lasted for about two years “was the second largest in the world and by the time it ended there were 3,481 cases, 2,299 deaths, and 1,162 survivors.”
The Ebola virus is a tropical fever that is transmitted to humans by wild animals.
