“WHO continues to support the Ministry of Health in surveillance efforts, investigating almost 2,000 alerts each day despite continued insecurity,’’ it said.
Meanwhile, in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) for DRC External Situation Report 89 issued on April 21, which covered April 13 to 19, 2020, stated that the four cases were all from Beni Health Zone in North Kivu Province.
It stated that three out of four cases were registered as contacts, though none were regularly followed by the response team because of insecurity and ongoing challenges with community reticence.
“In total, six cases have been reported since 10 April, four of whom have passed away.
“Currently there is one confirmed case receiving care at an Ebola treatment centre and one who remains in the community; response teams are engaging with the community in order to address this,” the agency stated
“Prior to the emergence of this cluster in Beni, the last person confirmed to have EVD tested negative twice and was discharged from a treatment centre on March 3, 2020.
“Specimens from confirmed cases were sent to the Institut Research Biomedicale (INRB) for genetic sequencing to support surveillance teams in investigating the source of infection and to determine if cases were linked to a known source of transmission.’’
According to the report, a total of 638 contacts of these cases have been registered, of which 476 were followed on April 19, 2020.
“A total of 346 of these contacts have been vaccinated and as of April 19, 25 per cent of contacts have not been followed due to insecurity and ongoing challenges with community reticence.
“From 13 to 19 April 2020, an average of 1894 alerts were reported and investigated per day.
“Of these, an average of 187 alerts were validated as suspected cases each day, requiring specialized care and laboratory testing to rule-out EVD.’’
