The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has issued an urgent warning, revealing that ten African countries are now at risk amid a rapidly escalating Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Africa CDC said the ten African countries are at risk of an Ebola outbreak following a spike in cases tied to the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, which initially surfaced in the northeastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and has since crossed borders into Uganda.
Speaking during a virtual briefing on continent-wide health security, Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya outlined a highly complex operational environment.
According to Kesaya, highly mobile mining populations, severe regional insecurity, and intense cross-border trade are actively accelerating the spread of the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
The agency has officially declared the crisis a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) to swiftly mobilize financial resources and deploy rapid-response medical teams.
“We have 10 countries at risk,” Kaseya said, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), listing Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia.
According to him, “high mobility and insecurity” in the region are contributing to the spread of the virus.
The warning comes after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever an international emergency.
The outbreak, centred in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has recorded hundreds of suspected cases and more than 170 suspected deaths, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This also comes after the WHO raised its public health alert to its highest internal tier, warning that the current Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo now poses a “very high” risk at the national level.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Ebola risk escalation in DR Congo during a press conference on Friday, noting that the virus is “spreading rapidly” through conflict-weary eastern provinces.
Africa CDC on May 18 declared the outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of Continental Security,” citing fears of wider regional transmission due to insecurity, weak health systems, and population movement across borders.
Ebola is a severe viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and can cause severe bleeding, organ failure, and death.
