Congo-Kinshasa: 'We Are Here to Help' - Who Chief Visits Epicentre of Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo

UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday visited Bunia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - where a severe Ebola outbreak has been declared.

The World Health Organization's director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but "at the same time community ownership is important".

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that was the reason for his trip: "We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help."

He is expected to inaugurate a large Ebola treatment center in Bunia in the form of a permanent building rather than simple tents.

Ghebreyesus was in the capital Kinshasa on Thursday to meet with local health officials who, according to him, "really need support."

He held several meetings, including with Prime Minister Judith Suminwa on Friday and is due to meet President Félix Tshisekedi on Monday.

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The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.

There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned.

The vast, unstable central African country - whose impoverished east has been plagued by three decades of conflict - has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.

Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and ordered a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country.

On Friday, the WHO announced that a patient had recovered on Wednesday, left hospital and was discharged into the community after two negative tests.

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WHO's Anaïs Legand told reporters in Geneva it marked the "first" among patients who had been confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain.

Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.

The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.

The medical charity Doctors