ReliefWeb

Situation Update

The Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO and partners continue to respond to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By using proven public health measures as well as new tools at hand (immunization and therapeutics), WHO remains confident the outbreak can be contained and brought to an end, despite multifaceted challenges.

During the reporting period, 4 December – 10 December 2018, cases continued to be reported in several health zones of North Kivu and Ituri Provinces, including in Mandima, a health zone in Ituri Province that last reported cases 102 days ago. During the reporting period, 39 new confirmed cases were reported from Katwa (12), Butembo (8), Beni (6), Mabalako (4), Oicha (3), Komanda (1), Kyondo (1), Vuhovi (1) and Mandima (1). Three healthcare workers were reported among the confirmed cases. A total of 21 deaths occurred during the reporting period.

The continuous efforts to review and reconcile case records in the database resulted in the addition of eight confirmed cases who had been admitted at the Ebola treatment Centre (ETC) of Beni during October 2018, and the identification of two former confirmed cases as being healthcare workers.

As of 10 December 2018, a total of 500 EVD cases, including 452 confirmed and 48 probable cases, have been reported from 14 health zones in the two neighbouring provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. Of the total of 500 cases, 289 died (overall case fatality rate 58%), including 241 confirmed cases. As of 10 December 2018, 172 cases have recovered and been discharged from ETCs. Females account for 61% of all confirmed and probable cases, and children (<15 years of age) account for 25% of all confirmed and probable cases. The number of health workers affected is 49 (47 confirmed and 2 probable), including 15 deaths.

Over the last 21 days (20 November to 10 December 2018), 100 confirmed and probable cases were reported from 12 health zones. The majority were reported from the major urban areas of Katwa (n=28), Beni (n=26), and Butembo (n=17); however, field teams are simultaneously pursuing the response activities around cases across Kalunguta, Komanda, Kyondo, Mabalako, Mandima, Masereka, Mutwanga, Oicha and Vuhovi.

The MoH, WHO and partners continue to monitor and investigate all alerts in affected areas, in other provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in neighbouring countries. Since the last report was published, alerts were investigated in several provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as in South Sudan and Uganda. To date, EVD has been ruled out in all alerts outside of the abovementioned outbreak affected areas.