The Director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced yesterday, Friday, the start of the first clinical trial of a vaccine against the Ebola virus to confront the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to Agence France-Presse.
Ghebreyesus said on the “X” platform: “Science gives us hope.” Today, in Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first participants received a vaccine in a new trial against Ebola called “Tumaini,” which means “hope” in the Swahili language.
This outbreak is considered the worst in the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the number of infections exceeded 9,700 cases, while the number of deaths exceeded 4,600.
The trial began by administering the first dose of the “Ervibo” vaccine in the city of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.
“This trial will help us understand whether any of the candidate vaccines designed to combat the Bundibugyo virus are effective,” Ghebreyesus added, adding that the currently existing “Ervibo” vaccine will also be tested in parallel.
The “Ervibo” vaccine, approved for use against the more widespread Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, will undergo a large-scale clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to see if it provides cross-protection against the “Bundebugyo” strain.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments against the “Bundebugyo” strain of the “Ebola” virus, which is the strain causing the current epidemic.
“Tomini” is a unified experimental framework that allows testing the safety, effectiveness, and ability of several vaccines to stimulate the immune response.
The trial will adopt the “ring vaccination” approach, which is based on vaccinating contacts who are considered most at risk of infection.
The trial will include pregnant women and children aged 12 years and above.
Preparations are also being made to include two vaccines specifically for the “Bundebugyo” strain, which are currently undergoing more limited clinical trials in the early stages.
One of these two vaccines is being developed at Oxford University, while the other is being developed by the American “Moderna” group and uses messenger DNA technology.
A multi-storey building under construction collapsed in the Kenyan capital on Friday, the Red Cross announced, while local media reported injuries and looting at the site of the incident.
Clips circulated on the Internet showed the moment the building collapsed, with thick clouds of dust rising as it fell. The building is located in the densely populated Eastleigh area, which includes commercial establishments and residential buildings, and is believed to have consisted of about 18 floors.
Journalists from Agence France-Presse observed the building turning into a pile of rubble, while small numbers of search and rescue teams arrived at the scene.
Abdi Aziz, a 25-year-old resident of the area, told Agence France-Presse: “There were some shops in the basement, and the workers were busy with construction work.”
He added: “But because the incident coincided with Friday prayers, many of them were in the mosque. I think the number of deaths is small; “No one lived in the building.”
Local media reported looting, and suggested that there were people trapped under the rubble. Some photos also showed large crowds gathered in the vicinity of the incident that occurred at noon. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowds, as witnessed by Agence France-Presse reporters. Rescue operations had not yet begun when the agency's reporters arrived.
Nairobi is witnessing a rapid urban boom, with high-rise buildings spreading across the city, especially in the Eastleigh neighborhood, known for its crowded markets and being a center for the Somali community. There are many concerns about building safety standards.
According to a report issued by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, the period between 2009 and 2019 witnessed the collapse of 86 buildings. Which resulted in the death of about 200 people.
Hundreds of Ethiopians have fled to Kenya following the outbreak of fighting in the border town of Moyale, the Kenya Red Cross Society and local government officials said on Thursday.
Residents reported that the fighting broke out yesterday, Wednesday, and gunshots could still be heard a day later in parts of the town on the Ethiopian side of the border. The town is located on both sides of the border and also extends into Kenyan territory.
It is not yet clear what caused the fighting in areas of the town located south of the Ethiopian Oromiya region. Officials there could not yet be reached for comment.
Stanley Kamande, Marsabit County Commissioner in Kenya, told Reuters: “We received hundreds of people from Ethiopia, most of them children and women.”
He added: “Many of them are staying with relatives and sympathizers in several villages on the Kenyan side of Moyale.”
The Kenya Red Cross Society said it was conducting an assessment to determine the number of people affected and their needs.
Ibrai John, a Red Cross official, said: “There is no camp ready to host these displaced people, but we will certainly work on that.”
This fighting broke out on the other side of Ethiopia, hundreds of kilometers away from the conflict in the Tigray region in the north of the country between government forces and a rebel coalition led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
