In the past week, officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed 48 new cases and 25 new deaths in an ongoing Ebola outbreak in three of the DRC's eastern provinces.
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) African regional office's weekly update on the 13-month-long outbreak, the principle virus hot spots in September have been Mambasa (25% of new cases), Mandima (19%), Kalunguta (18%), and Beni (11%).
"Eight health zones, namely Mambasa, Komanda, Mandima, Beni, Katwa, Kayna, Kalunguta and Biena have reported new confirmed cases in the past seven days and remain points of attention," the WHO said. "The persistence of hot spots and the shift in transmission intensity between the main hotspots remains of grave concern, as does continued sporadic transmission in other health areas."
Today the WHO recorded 2 more cases and 3 fatalities on its online Ebola dashboard, raising outbreak totals to 3,171 cases and 2,118 deaths. There are 342 suspected cases under investigation.
In an update issued late yesterday, the DRC's multisector Ebola committee (CMRE) said that the four cases confirmed yesterday were in Butembo, Mandima (two cases), and Mambasa.
Tanzania summons WHO rep
In a sign that Tanzania is not happy with the WHO's assertion that the country is withholding information about possible Ebola cases, Tanzania summoned a WHO country representative today to Dar es Salaam.
According to Reuters, Tanzanian government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on Twitter that WHO country representative Tigest Ketsela Mengestu was summoned by deputy foreign affairs minister Damas Ndumbar.
Over the weekend, the WHO said it had received reports of Ebola patients dying in Tanzania as of early September, but Tanzania's health ministry maintains that no patients in that country have contracted Ebola.
The WHO said today it has taken no punitive actions against Tanzania but is still awaiting test results from the suspected cases. The agency said it continues to request information from Tanzania.
In a press conference in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said the agency is willing to help Tanzania in any type of health emergency the country may be facing, according to a United Nations (UN) story.
See also:
WHO Africa regional office report
WHO Ebola dashboard
Sep 23 CMRE update
Sep 24 Reuters story
Sep 24 UN news service story
