The Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday declared the end of the country’s latest Ebola epidemic after the outbreak killed 55 people over the past five months.
“I am happy to solemnly declare the end of the 11th epidemic of the Ebola virus in Equateur province” in the vast country’s northwest, Health Minister Eteni Longondo told journalists.
The World Health Organization said the latest outbreak had killed 55 people among 119 confirmed and 11 probable cases since it began in June.
ReliefWeb reports that during this outbreak, more than 5000 health workers were trained in infection prevention. Additional training is to be conducted over the next three months to strengthen health worker knowledge and skills for an effective emergency response.
Protecting health workers proved vital to the response. With over 8000 health workers vaccinated against Ebola, no cases were reported among health workers during the outbreak., which was declared over on 18 November 2020. There were a total of 119 confirmed cases, 11 probable, 55 deaths and 75 people who recovered.