WHO makes big announcement on Ebola outbreak in Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has officially declared its latest Ebola outbreak over, after a 42-day period without new recorded cases.

Congolese health officials and the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the news on Monday, marking a significant public health achievement.

The outbreak, declared on 4 September in Kasai Province's Bulape health zone, was the country's first since 2022. Of 64 total cases, 45 people died and 19 recovered, according to the Congolese health ministry.

A revamped national surveillance system proved crucial in containing the spread, enabling authorities to swiftly map affected areas and limit transmission.

WHO regional director, Dr Mohamed Janabi, praised the rapid response as he stated: "Controlling and ending this Ebola outbreak in three months is a remarkable achievement."

No new cases were reported since 25 September, with the last patient discharged on 19 October. A 90-day period of enhanced surveillance will commence.

Health protocols require two maximum 21-day incubation periods to pass without new detections before an outbreak is officially declared over.

It marked the Central African nation's 16th Ebola outbreak since 1976. Ebola, a rare but often fatal illness, is endemic to Congo's tropical forests.

Transmitted via blood and other bodily fluids, it causes fever, body aches, and diarrhoea.

Ebola has affected other parts of Africa in recent years, with an epidemic declared in Western Africa back in 2013.

The first recorded cases were in Guinea, before the disease spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Mali.

Isolated cases were later recorded in the United Kingdom, Italy and Senegal, with the number of cases peaking in October 2014.

Over the next two years the number of cases gradually decreased and the epidemic was finally declared over on 9 June 2016, six weeks after the last case tested negative in Liberia’s largest city, Monrovia.