WHO: Ebola risk high in Congo, Uganda; global risk low

AP file photo

WHO on Wednesday said that the risk of Ebola spreading in Congo and neighbouring Uganda remains high at the national and regional levels, though the global risk is currently considered low. WHO also said that the Ebola outbreak does not currently meet the threshold to be declared a pandemic even as the agency warned that the spread of the virus suggests the outbreak may have begun several months ago. “The current situation and criteria for a public health emergency of international concern have been met, and we agree that the current situation does not satisfy the criteria for a pandemic emergency,” Lucille Blumberg, chair of WHO's emergency committee told reporters from South Africa, as cited by AFP. The WHO said investigations into the outbreak remain underway as health authorities intensify efforts to contain transmission. “Investigations are ongoing and our priority is really to cut the transmission chain by implementing contact tracing, isolating and caring for all suspect and confirmed cases,” Anais Legand, WHO technical officer on viral haemorrhagic fevers, told journalists. The assessment followed as the head of the WHO team in Congo said the outbreak, which has resulted in 134 suspected deaths so far, could continue for at least another two months even as international aid efforts intensify to contain the virus. The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, calling for a coordinated global response as concerns grow over the “scale and speed” of the spread. So far, 51 confirmed cases have been recorded in Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, along with two cases in Uganda, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. In addition, the WHO is monitoring nearly 600 suspected cases and deaths linked to the outbreak. “We know that the scale of the epidemic is much larger,” he said. “We expect those numbers to keep increasing.” Residents in affected areas have reported sharp increases in the prices of face masks and disinfectants following the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which health experts and aid workers said circulated undetected for weeks after initial tests for a more common strain returned negative results. There are currently no approved medicines or vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus.