Fresh Ebola outbreak kills five in the Congo

At least five people have reportedly died, including a 15 year-old girl, from confirmed cases of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

The deaths were said to have occured from the 18th and 30th of May and were only confirmed as Ebola on the 31st of May, UNICEF said in a statement.

“Four additional people who contracted the virus- all contacts of the deceased and including the child of one of the fatal cases- are being treated in an isolation unit at the Wangata Hospital in Mbandaka,” UNICEF said.

Read also: Ebola resurfaces in DR Congo again

A total of 9 cases have been discovered in the Central African country with 6 from Mbandaka, in the country’s northwest Equateur province, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.

“The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak,” WHO stated.

The recent development comes as the Central African Country battles 3,195 cases of coronavirus and 72 deaths.

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