Latest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is declared over, with lessons for COVID-19
“This great achievement shows that together we can overcome any health challenge”, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director General, wrote in a tweet.
The outbreak in DRC’s northwestern Equateur Province emerged in early June and caused 130 Ebola cases and 55 deaths.
Vaccinations key
A key part of the response – with potential lessons for the global fight against COVID19 – was the vaccination of more than 40,000 people at high risk of falling sick from the frequently fatal haemorrhagic disease, the WHO said in a statement. Like one of the COVID-19 candidate vaccines, the Ebola vaccine needs to be kept at super-cold temperatures to keep it from spoiling.
“Overcoming one of the world’s most dangerous pathogens in remote and hard to access communities demonstrat...