Panic Spreads As Ebola Patient ‘Escapes From Treatment Centre’

An Ebola patient under treatment in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reportedly escaped from the treatment centre.

Local officials say the patient tested positive for the virus and was being treated.

News website Actualité reports that DR Congo’s health ministry confirmed the incident.

The Ebola treatment centre is located in Lubero, in North Kivu province.
 

Authorities say the patient is believed to have returned to the community.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O) has declared the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern.

This is the second worst Ebola outbreak of all time, in DR Congo.

The W.H.O defines Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as, “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”.

The W.H.O in a statement “cited recent developments in the outbreak in making its recommendation, including the first confirmed case in Goma, a city of almost two million people on the border with Rwanda, and the gateway to the rest of DRC and the world.”
 

So far, there have been more than 2,500 cases of infection.

Nearly 1,670 have died in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, where multiple armed groups and lack of local trust have hampered efforts to get the outbreak under control.