ADDIS ABABA, Feb 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — Two African countries of Guinea
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reported 14 Ebola virus cases and nine deaths so far, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the 55-member African
Union, reported a fatality rate of 64.3 percent in the two countries.
Since the last report, one new confirmed case, two new deaths and no new
recoveries have been reported in the DRC, the Africa CDC said, adding that
three new suspected cases were reported in N’zerekore, Guinea.
The Africa CDC, which emphasized that the number of Ebola cases and deaths mainly included cumulative probable and confirmed ones, stressed that the official figures showed that the DRC had seven cases and four deaths while Guinea had seven cases and five deaths.
According to the Africa CDC, neither of the Ebola virus-affected countries
has so far reported recoveries.
New outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus disease in the two African
countries are sending new jitters to Africa as the continent is still
grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Africa CDC last week announced that it would deploy an emergency
response support team of experts in Guinea to help the country fight the new Ebola outbreak.
The Africa CDC also said that it will call for an emergency meeting of
experts to better coordinate emergency responses in Guinea and in neighboring countries across the region, in collaboration with the West African Health Organization.
The 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak claimed over 11,300 lives,
with over 28,600 recorded cases.
Ebola is a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever that causes a range of
symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.
Meanwhile in capital CONAKRY, Guinea launched its Ebola vaccination
drive Tuesday .
The start of the inoculation campaign had to be delayed by one day after a
plane carrying more than 11,000 vaccine doses was unable to land in Guinea’s capital Conakry due to a dust storm.
A special flight carrying the Merck vaccine finally landed in Guinea late
Monday.
Health authorities said some of the doses would head straight to Nzerekore,
the capital of Guinea’s southeastern forest region where five people have
recently died of Ebola.
A further 8,700 vaccine doses were set to arrive from the United States on
Wednesday. — NNN-XINHUA