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World Health Organization: Ebola Outbreak Is a Public Health Emergency

EPIDEMIC

“Our risk assessment remains that the risk of Ebola spread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains very high,” said the WHO chief.

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REUTERS

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency. The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee tweeted that no country should close its borders or put in place travel restrictions that would further isolate the DRC and asked nearby at-risk countries to prepare by mapping health facilities and sociological patterns.

Two recent Ebola cases caused concerns: that of a priest who traveled to the transportation hub of Goma and that of a Congolese fishmonger who traveled to Uganda. “Our risk assessment remains that the risk of Ebola spread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region remains very high, and the risk of spread outside the region remains low,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference. The U.N. Children’s Fund says that of the 2,500 cases of Ebola in the Congo, 750 victims were children.

Read it at Al Jazeera

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