KINSHASA, 24 August. - (ANA) - In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) the Ebola virus outbreak continues to prove hard to pin down, but UN health experts remain positive that they can eradicate it.

 

Speaking in Geneva, Michael Ryan from the World Health Organization (WHO) explained that two of the biggest challenges were daily security risks in the north-east, along with the massive movement of people – all potential carriers of the virus.

 

“At the peak of this outbreak we were tracking 22,000 contacts every day; tracking 22,000 different people every day in an area where people, hundreds of thousands of people move in the province every day, has been a huge challenge”, said Dr. Ryan.

 

While the disease has spread in the last two weeks, to Mwenga in South Kivu, he insisted that one of the biggest steps forward was the development of vaccines and therapeutic medicines.

 

Latest data shows that the outbreak has led to total of 2927 cases of infection and 1961 deaths.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/24 August 2019 - - -