Africa: The United States stands ready to assist the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea in dealing with the outbreak of the Ebola virus

Madrid, 17 (Europe Press)

The White House demonstrated the US willingness to help the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea to deal with the recently reported Ebola outbreaks in both countries, and chose to take “swift and effective” measures to contain the crisis.

“Infectious diseases are threats to infectious health and national security. As the world faces the coronavirus epidemic, Ebola has reappeared simultaneously in Central and East Africa,” White House Press Secretary Jane Psaki said.

“The world cannot look the other way. We must do everything in our power to respond quickly, effectively and with sufficient resources to stop these outbreaks before they turn into large-scale epidemics,” he said.

Consequently, he stressed that US President Joe Biden was “informed” of the situation, and added that his government “will do its utmost to transfer the American leadership to contain these outbreaks, and work with affected governments, the World Health Organization (WHO). The African Union and the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( Africa CDC) and neighboring countries.

Psaki also revealed that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has maintained contacts with the governments of Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Liberia “to convey the message of the United States’ readiness to work closely with them.”

Psaki, who argued that “you should not allow yourself to take your foot off the gas, even while fighting the Coronavirus,” argued: “Outbreaks require a rapid and overwhelming response to avoid the catastrophic consequences.”

He added, according to a statement published by the White House on its website, that “the United States is ready to do everything in its power to ensure a strong global response and stop these outbreaks.”

On Monday, the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo launched a vaccination campaign against Ebola, shortly after the announcement of a new outbreak of the disease in North Kivu Province (East), which has so far killed at least two people.

The recent Ebola virus outbreak, with its epicenter in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, lasted nearly two years, and killed 2,299 people, and 1,162 patients are known to have overcome the disease. It was the tenth outbreak to be discovered in the African country.

The country was also the epicenter of another Ebola virus outbreak during 2020, in this case in the Ecuadorian province (northwest). In this case, the outbreak – the country’s eleventh – was declared on June 1 and ended on November 18, with 119 confirmed cases, eleven probable cases, and 55 deaths.

For his part, the President of Guinea ordered, on Tuesday, a series of measures against the outbreak of the Ebola virus that was discovered on Sunday in Nazrikor (southeast of the country), including closing markets and preventing religious celebrations, in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.

Guinea was the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2016, which claimed more than 11,000 lives in West Africa, leaving more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths in this country, as well as in Sierra Leone and Liberia.