New Ebola case reported in Guinea after 27 days
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti says that she is saddened to hear of the new case, but says the health body remains on high alert in supporting Guinean health authorities’ surveillance efforts and preparedness in neighbouring areas.
CAPE TOWN, April 2 (ANA) – A new Ebola case has been reported in Guinea after 27 days of no new case reports in the West African country, the World Health Organisation has announced on Thursday.
For an Ebola outbreak to be declared over, there must not be any new cases for 42 days, the length of two incubation periods, the WHO says.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti says that she is saddened to hear of the new case, but says the health body remains on high alert in supporting Guinean health authorities’ surveillance efforts and preparedness in neighbouring areas.
According to local media reports, this brings the number of Ebola cases in Guinea to 19, including eight registered deaths, disrupting the countdown that began on March 24, 2021.
The last confirmed case was discharged from a treatment centre in N’Zérékoré 38 days after the start of the outbreak.
No new cases have been reported since March 4.
Furthermore, more than 3,900 people have been vaccinated during the outbreak, according to the WHO.
Guinea declared an Ebola outbreak in one of its regions on February 14, when seven people fell ill with diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a burial in Goueke, near the Liberian border, according to international news broadcaster Al Jazeera.
According to Anadolu Agency, Ebola is a tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is transmitted to humans from wild animals.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
