WHO and Guinea announce end of second Ebola outbreak in country

Published on : 06/19/2021 – 3:36 PM

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Guinean authorities officially announced, Saturday, June 19, the end of the second Ebola epidemic in this country, a few months after the reappearance of this disease.

“Thanks to the lessons learned from the 2014-2016 epidemic and thanks to the rapid and coordinated efforts, Guinea has managed to control the epidemic and prevent its spread beyond its borders,” said a statement. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.

“I have the honor to speak on this day of declaration of the end of the Ebola virus disease” in Guinea, declared, for his part, a WHO official, Alfred Ki-Zerbo, at the meeting. ‘an official ceremony in Nzérékoré, in the South-East, where the disease reappeared at the end of January.

“I would like, on behalf of the Head of State (President Alpha Condé), to declare the end of the resurgence of the Ebola virus disease in the Republic of Guinea”, for his part indicated the Guinean Minister of Health, the general practitioner Rémy Lamah.

Twelve deaths out of 16 confirmed cases

A total of 16 cases of contamination were confirmed during this latest epidemic in Guinea and seven probable cases were also identified. Eleven patients survived and 12 died, according to a WHO statement released on Saturday. The text does not give the details of the deaths among the confirmed and probable cases. A previous assessment given by the organization Thursday reported five deaths.

The 2021 epidemic was quickly defeated compared to 2013-2016. At the time, it had left this same forest Guinea and had spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Between the end of 2013 and 2016, the worst epidemic in the world since the identification of the virus in 1976 had killed 11,300 people, mainly in Guinea (2,500 dead), Liberia and Sierra Leone, three of the poorest countries in the world. An undervalued balance sheet, by the WHO’s own admission.

Vaccines and improved treatments for the disease brought an end to the second largest outbreak to date in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year.

With AFP and Reuters