Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo

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A decline in the number of confirmed Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases has been reported this week (22 to 28 May). Over the past seven days, a total of 73 new confirmed cases were reported compared to the previous where 127 new confirmed cases were reported. This should be interpreted with caution given the complex operating environment and fragility of the security situation. Katwa, one of the epicenters of the outbreak, reported fewer cases this week and other health zones such as Mabalako, Kalunguta and Mandima have also seen a decline in case reporting. Active transmission was reported in 14 of the 22 health zones that have been affected to date. Other initial encouraging findings such as a lower proportion of reported nosocomial infections, a lower proportion of community deaths and a higher proportion of registered contacts at case detection have also been reported. Weekly fluctuations in these indicators have been reported in the past and uncertainties remain with regards to the ability of the surveillance system to identify all new cases in areas faced with ongoing insecurity. Operations are still regularly hampered by security issues, and the risk of national and regional spread remains very high.

Mabalako reported 24% (73/309) of the new confirmed cases in the past 21 days. Nine out of the 12 Mabalako health areas have reported new confirmed cases during this period. In the 21 days between 8 to 28 May 2019, 83 health areas within 14 health zones reported new cases, representing 46% of the 180 health areas affected to date (Table 1 and Figure 2). During this period, a total of 309 confirmed cases were reported, the majority of which were from the Mabalako (24%, n=73), Butembo (21%, n=64), Katwa (14%, n=42), Beni (11%, n=34), Kalunguta (10%, n=31), Musienene (7%, n=23) and Mandima (6%, n=20) health zones.

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