WHO says DRC Ebola outbreak not a 'global' emergency
Health workers move a patient to a hospital after he was cleared of having Ebola inside an MSF-supported Ebola Treatment Centre in Butembo, the DRC, on November 4, 2018. PHOTO | JOHN WESSELS | AFP
The closely-watched decision followed advice from WHO's emergency committee, which only meets to review the world's most severe outbreaks.
Friday's emergency committee meeting was prompted by confirmation this week of Ebola deaths in a western Uganda region that borders DRC.
The head of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, appealed for more funds to combat the ongoing Ebola flare-up, which has recorded more than 2,000 cases, including over 1,400 deaths, since it emerged in eastern DRC in August.
Health officials had initially hoped that they could contain the outbreak with help from a new vaccine, which has now been given to more than 130,000 people in DRC.
GENEVA,
The World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo does not qualify as an international threat, despite the spread of the virus to neighbouring Uganda carried by an infected family.
