Risk Of Ebola Spread Out Of DRC 'Extremely Low' If Local Response Efficient - WHO

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published August 30, 2018 | 04:13 PM

The risk of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) spreading to other countries outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is very low, but it depends on local response in the epicenter of the ongoing outbreak, Dr. Mike Ryan, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) The risk of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) spreading to other countries outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is very low, but it depends on local response in the epicenter of the ongoing outbreak, Dr. Mike Ryan, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Thursday.

"My assessment at this point is that the risk to other countries is extremely low but we have to be vigilant and we have to ensure that, and the best way we can contain this risk globally is to contain this virus locally right now in [the northeastern city of] Beni," Ryan said at a press conference.

According to Ryan, the WHO is cautiously confident that the response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak in the DRC has proven to be successful.

"I am confident though that at the moment we seem to be winning but it is at the moment when one presumes victory that sometimes one is defeated.

So cautious optimism I think at this point, but the tail of these epidemics often goes on for four, five, to six weeks," Ryan added.

The most recent outbreak of Ebola in DRC was registered on August 1, mostly hitting the Ituri and North Kivu provinces and coming just months after the previous outbreak that took place in May and claimed the lives of 33 people.

According to the WHO, as of August 26, 2018, 111 cases of Ebola (83 confirmed and 28 probable) including 75 deaths, were reported in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces, which border Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

In an attempt to contain the virus, WHO is using experimental vaccines that were developed following a 2013-16 outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, which killed more than 11,000 people, the WHO noted.