By Rodrigue Forku
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to deploy teams of experts to stem the Ebola outbreak in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the UN health agency said on Thursday.
More than 100 WHO workers are expected to be part of the Ebola response team in Guinea by the end of February, the agency said in a statement.
Last week, a new Ebola virus outbreak was declared in the West African country of Guinea which has claimed several lives.
Earlier this month, authorities in DR Congo also announced the reappearance of the Ebola virus in the eastern part of the Central African country, more than two months after the end of the last outbreak.
The country has reported four confirmed Ebola cases, including two deaths. The WHO said it has around 20 experts on the ground supporting national and provincial health authorities to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
“We are hard at work, shifting quickly through the gears to get ahead of the virus. With experts and emergency supplies already getting on the ground, the response is off to a strong start,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said.
“Our collective, quick action is crucial to averting an uncontrolled spread of Ebola amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has already pushed health workers and health facilities to the edge,” Moeti added.
A vaccination drive was officially launched in DR Congo’s Butembo, the outbreak’s epicenter, on Feb. 15, according to the UN health agency.
The WHO said a vaccination campaign will soon start in Guinea, adding it has released $1.25 million to support the response in Guinea and to reinforce Ebola readiness in neighboring Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Additionally, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund has disbursed $15 million to support the response in Guinea, DR Congo and neighboring countries.
Guinea was one of the three most-affected countries in the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak which was the largest since the virus was first discovered in 1976.
The disease caused global alarm in 2014, when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ebola, a tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC, is transmitted to humans from wild animals.
