Five new deaths have been recorded in Mabalako-Mangina, near Beni, the epicenter of the epidemic in the province of North Kivu, according to the latest epidemiological bulletin from the Ministry of Health released on Monday evening.

"In total, 96 cases of haemorrhagic fever were reported in the region, of which 69 confirmed and probably 27," says the Directorate-General for Control of the disease.

"The Ministry of Health has proclaimed free health care in the three health zones most affected by the epidemic, namely Mabalako, Oicha and Beni," said the daily newsletter on the follow-up of the epidemic.

"It's about breaking the financial barrier that could prevent people from going to the health center," said Dr. Bathé Ndjoloko Tambwe, coordinator of the reaction.

The average income of about 80 million Congolese is estimated at $ 1.25 per day.

The general management for the fight against the disease had revised the number of "contacts" with the virus, followed by doctors, from 2.157 to 1.609, after research by epidemiologists.

The outbreak was declared on 1 August in Mangina, in the province of North Kivu.

Targeted vaccination is used as in the last epidemic in the Equateur province, in the northwest of the country, the end of which was announced on 24 July (33 deaths on 54 cases in total).

"Since the start of the vaccination on 8 August 2018, 1,273 people have been vaccinated," said the Ministry of Health Monday.

The medical teams "started using the therapeutic molecule Mab114 as part of the treatment of the sick" in Beni and Mangina, epicenter of the epidemic, according to the Ministry of Health.

The DRC (formerly Zaire) has had ten Ebola outbreaks since 1976. But this is the first time the virus has been seen in a densely populated area of ​​armed conflicts with large population movements.

AFP