Attachments
Date of information: 02 June 2017
1. Situation update
WHO, UN Agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and partners continue to support the Ministry of Health (MoH) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to rapidly investigate and respond to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Likati Health Zone, Bas Uele Province in the north-east of the country.
On 02 June 2017, two cases have been confirmed as positive for EVD by serology and their respective dates of onset were 24th April and 11th May 2017. These two cases were previously reported as suspected cases and are part of known transmission chains. Their contacts have been followed up. The date of the last confirmed case reported remains as 11 May 2017. Therefore there are currently a total of four confirmed and three probable cases. Of these, three survived and four died, resulting in a case fatality rate of 57%. All contacts have now completed the 21 day monitoring period.
The confirmed and probable cases were reported from Nambwa (four confirmed and two probable) and Ngayi (one probable). The outbreak remains confined to Likati Health Zone.
Modelling suggests the risk of further cases is currently low but not negligible, and decreases with each day without new confirmed/probable cases. As of the reporting date, 68% of simulated scenarios predict no further cases in the next 30 days.
All seven response committees are functional at the national level, namely monitoring, case management, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and biosafety, laboratory and research, pyscho-social management, logistics, and communication. Additionally response teams have been established in the affected areas.
This EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was notified to WHO by the MoH on 11 May 2017. The cluster of cases and deaths of previously unidentified illness had been reported since late April 2017. Likati Health Zone shares borders with two provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with the Central African Republic (Figure 1). The affected area is remote and hard to reach, with limited communication and transport infrastructure.