DR Congo: Officials say 2nd Ebola case confirmed in Goma

GOMA, DR Congo - Officials confirmed on Tuesday a second positive case of the Ebola virus in Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The response coordination team said at a press briefing that the positive case is in the health zone of Nyiragongo, a peripheral zone of the city of Goma.

The patient is a 46-year-old father of 10 from Mongbwalu, 70 kilometers from the city of Bunia in Ituri Province. It borders North Kivu where the Ebola epidemic has also been spreading since last year.

According to the authorities, the patient currently being treated in Goma has reportedly arrived in the Nyiragongo area since July 13 and developed the first symptoms on July 22.

The response coordination team called on the public to work with health workers, and reassured neighboring countries, including Rwanda and Uganda, who share the border directly with the city of Goma, that all measures are being taken for the effective control of the epidemic to prevent further spread beyond the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.

In mid-July, local officials announced that the first Ebola patient in Goma had died.

With a population of 2 million, Goma is on DR Congo's heavily traveled border with Rwanda and has an international airport. For months, health officials had feared that an Ebola case would be confirmed there. Days after the first Goma case was announced, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a rare global emergency.

This has become the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, with 1,700 people dead despite the widespread use of an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine. Containing the outbreak faces unprecedented challenges amid attacks by rebel groups and resistance by wary community residents in a region of the country that had never experienced an Ebola outbreak before.

The declaration of a global health emergency - the fifth in history - brought a surge of millions of dollars in new pledges by foreign donors.

Xinhua - Agencies

(China Daily 08/01/2019 page11)