By Ange Kasongo
KINSHASA, May 21 (Reuters) – A case of Ebola has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province – hundreds of kilometres from the outbreak’s epicentre – the rebel alliance that controls the area said on Thursday.
The case in a rural area near the provincial capital of Bukavu marks an expansion of an outbreak that experts believe circulated for around two months in Ituri province, several hundred kilometres to the north, before being detected last week.
The Alliance Fleuve Congo, which includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who seized swathes of eastern DRC last year, said in a statement that the 28-year-old patient had died and been buried safely.
It said the person had come from the northern city of Kisangani, in Tshopo province, but it did not provide details about their recent movements.
The World Health Organization at the weekend declared the outbreak of the virus’ Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine, a public health emergency of international concern.
The outbreak has been linked to 139 deaths and there were 600 suspected cases in eastern DRC’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces as of Wednesday, according to the WHO. Two cases have also been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.
M23 REBELS PLEDGE TO WORK WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
South Kivu health spokesperson Claude Bahizire told Reuters earlier on Thursday that two suspected cases, including the patient who died, had been detected in the province. The other patient was in isolation awaiting test results, he said.
Last week, an Ebola case was confirmed in M23-held Goma, the capital of neighbouring North Kivu province.
M23 said earlier this week that it was committed to working with international partners to contain the outbreak.
The response has been complicated by the virus’ presence in densely populated urban areas and widespread armed violence in eastern DRC.
A 2018-2020 outbreak in the region of the Zaire strain of Ebola was the second-deadliest on record, killing nearly 2,300 people.
This time, first responders say they lack basic supplies, which some have attributed to foreign aid cuts by major international donors.
(Additional reporting and writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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