Guinea Declares 'Ebola Epidemic' As Fresh Cases Surface After 2016, Three Fatalities Reported

This as at least three people died and four fell ill in the southeast as tests came back positive for the virus. The four patients have been isolated in treatment centres. According to the Health Ministry, the seven patients fell ill with diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a burial in Goueke sub-prefecture.

New Delhi: Even as the world faces the novel coronavirus pandemic, Guinea on Sunday declared a new Ebola outbreak, the first resurgence of the disease there since the worst outbreak in 2013-2016. 

As per a report by news agency Reuters, at least three people have died and four fell ill in the southeast as tests came back positive for the virus. The four patients have been isolated in treatment centres.

According to the Health Ministry, the seven patients fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding after attending a burial in Goueke sub-prefecture. 

“Faced with this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean government declares an Ebola epidemic,” Reuters quoted the Health Ministry as saying in a statement, adding the health workers are working to trace and isolate the contacts of the Ebola cases.

The Health Ministry further said the authorities have also asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Ebola vaccines.

“WHO is ramping up readiness & response efforts to this potential resurgence of #Ebola in West Africa, a region which suffered so much from Ebola in 2014,” WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, tweeted.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very concerned by reports of 4 suspected Ebola deaths in Guinea. <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/saudi-activist-loujain-al-hathloul-who-campaigned-against-male-guardianship-system-1444022">@WHO</a> is ramping up readiness &amp; response efforts to this potential resurgence of <a >#Ebola</a> in West Africa, a region which suffered so much from Ebola in 2014. <a >pic.twitter.com/9eyMLeZutK</a></p>&mdash; Dr Matshidiso Moeti (@MoetiTshidi) <a >February 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Causing severe vomiting and diarrhea, the Ebola virus is spread through contact with body fluids. 

This virus has a much higher death rate than COVID-19. It is, however, not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers, unlike the coronavirus.