THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: After the outbreak of the Ebola Virus in Guinea, WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti on Thursday announced that more than 11,000 vaccines are prepared in Geneva to combat the recent epidemic situation. These Ebola vaccines are expected to arrive at Guinea’s Southern N’Zerekore region over the weekend, where the deadly hemorrhagic fever has been detected increasingly.
“As soon as the Ebola vaccines arrive in the country, 30 vaccination experts who have already been mobilized locally will be ready to deploy for the same” said Dr. Moeti. He further added that an additional 8,600 doses will be shipped from United States as per the requirement and that the vaccination campaign could start as early as Monday.
While World Health Organization has put six African counties on high alert after both Guinea and Congo recorded high alerts for Ebola infections. “However, surveillance in the neighboring countries is ongoing”, said Dr. Moeti. She added that quick and collective action is crucial to prevent the spread of this contagious Ebola amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “Therefore, top health workers and facilities are pushed to different edges of the country to help avert the uncontrolled spread of Ebola”, she said.
According to WHO, the New Ebola Outbreak in South Africa was actually declared less than a month after health officials detected cases of patients showing symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The sick had participated in a traditional funeral, in which people wash and touch the body of the deceased, on 1st February in Gouake, in the country’s south, thereby letting the spread of Ebola. As of Thursday, Guinea in the midst of first resurgence of the virus, has recorded three confirmed Ebola cases including one death, as per WHO.
However, health officials are more fearful about the spread of the disease to the West African countries, which had experienced terrible outcomes of the deadliest Ebola in the history from 2014 to 2016, causing a loss of more than 11,300 lives mostly from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Therefore, health officials are continuously keeping check to avert the entry of this epidemic.
Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, Liberia’s Health Minister has announced to keep track of possible cases within the borders. On Thursday, she said that a women who entered Liberia on February 12th from the Guinean town of Nzerekore is been observed and tested by the health workers after she showed symptoms of Ebola. “The woman is kept in isolation, awaiting the test results”, she said.
A Sierra Leone man has also showed similar symptoms, although having no recent travel history. However, test reports claimed him negative for Ebola, added Ministry of Health and Sanitation spokesman Harold Thomas.
There’s no escaping the fact that the Ebola did spread to Central Africa. On 7th February, Congo, in central Africa, announced four cases of Ebola in the eastern part of the country. Therefore, more than 8,000 Ebola vaccines are made available in Congo with vaccination campaign which began on Monday in Butembo for people at high risk, as per WHO.
These four cases in Congo resemble the 10th Ebola epidemic which occurred in the same area in the country, taking more than 2,200 lives between 2018 and June 2020. Dr. Moeti said on Thursday that the sequence of results obtained so far reveals a kind of link between the present cases and the previous outbreak that happened in North Kivu; the Eastern Province of Congo.
Amidst this crisis, United States provided a helping hand with an announcement that it will be releasing $15 million from its emergency relief fund to help Guinea and Congo to fight against the new Ebola outbreak.