Ebola death toll in Congo passes two hundred

Ebola has claimed 201 lives in the Congo during the past two months.

Ebola has killed 201 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since an outbreak started two months ago in the country's east.

There have been 291 confirmed cases of the virus, half of which were in North Kivu region's Beni, a city of some 800,000 people, the health ministry said.

Over 28,000 people in the central African nation have received a vaccine to prevent Ebola.

Earlier this month, the health ministry said it will install health checkpoints at the entrances to all polling stations in Congo's Ebola-affected region during the December presidential election, when millions of Congolese are expected to come out to vote.

The outbreak is concentrated in a region where numerous militia groups are fighting over Congo's rich natural resources.

Besides militia attacks that have hindered health workers, the region's high population density and movements across the borders to Uganda and Rwanda pose additional risks the highly lethal disease could spread in the region.

The outbreak began shortly after the Congo's government declared an end to another outbreak in the west of the country in June and lauded those involved for managing to swiftly contain the spread of the disease.


Source: SBS