Ebola Spreads in DR Congo, Cumulative Cases Exceed 500

Ebola continues to spread across Africa, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) at the center of the outbreak.

The cumulative number of confirmed cases has surpassed 500.

According to Reuters, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced on June 8 (local time) that the cumulative number of confirmed Ebola cases in the DR Congo has reached 544.

In Ituri Province, located in the northeastern part of the DR Congo and the epicenter of the current outbreak, 515 cases have been confirmed.

The Africa CDC reported that the number of deaths from confirmed Ebola cases in the DR Congo stands at 88.

However, these figures differ slightly from the data released by the DR Congo government the previous day, which reported 515 cumulative cases and 91 deaths as of June 6.

In Uganda, which borders the DR Congo, there have been 19 cumulative confirmed cases and 2 deaths to date.

Among the confirmed cases, 14 were individuals who entered from the DR Congo, while the remaining 5 were identified as Ugandan nationals infected by those individuals.

Following his visit to the DR Congo, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Uganda on this day to meet with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and health officials to discuss support and cooperation measures.

While acknowledging that Uganda's quarantine efforts are being carried out successfully, Director-General Tedros requested a reconsideration of the total border closure with the DR Congo, stating, "A total border closure is not practically helpful."

Countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mauritius have implemented total entry restrictions on three countries: the DR Congo and Uganda, where Ebola has broken out, as well as South Sudan.

Previously, on June 5, the WHO and the Africa CDC announced that they would operate a joint plan by investing $518 million (approximately 800 billion KRW) over six months until November to respond to the spread of Ebola in the African region.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.