GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization has warned six countries to monitor potential Ebola cases after fresh outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Guinea on Sunday declared a new outbreak of Ebola in the first recurrence of the disease since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while the Democratic Republic of Congo reported a recurrence of the virus on February 7.
“We have already alerted the six surrounding countries, including, of course, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and look for any possible infection,” said Margaret Harris, WHO. -a briefing from Geneva. She did not specify the other countries.
Harris added that health authorities have identified nearly 300 contacts with Ebola in the Congo outbreak and about 109 in Guinea.
Gene sequencing of Ebola samples from both the Congo and Guinea to learn more about the origins of the new outbreaks and to identify the strains was underway, she said.
“We don’t know if this is because Ebola persists in the human population or if it simply moves back from the animal population, but the ongoing genetic sequencing will help with this information,” she said.
Reporting by Emma Farge and Emma Thomasson; Montage by Alison Williams