Fighting In DR Congo Paralyzes Ebola Response For Past Week - World Health Organization

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2019) International health workers battling an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been forced to suspend operations due to fighting between rebels and government forces, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"Today is the 7th consecutive day that #Ebola response operations have been paralyzed in Beni & Oicha, #DRC where there are active chains of transmission. Teams were unable to vaccinate anyone in those areas yesterday, only 1/4 of people at risk were checked by health teams," the WHO said in a Twitter post.

Some staff have been evacuated from the Beni region in western DRC even though most of the health workers remains in place, WHO added.

Dozens of rebel groups are battling government forces in the DRC, with many concentrated in the country's western region bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

In July, the WHO declared the Ebola epidemic a public health emergency of international concern when a new case was reported in Goma, a city of about 2 million bordering Rwanda. In just over a year, the Ebola epidemic has become the second deadliest on record with more than 2,000 deaths so far. A 2014-15 outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people.