By CGTN Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday asked six African countries to be alert for possible Ebola infections, as Guinea reported new cases and the Democratic Republic of Congo said its new infections were a resurgence of a previous outbreak.
“We have already alerted the six countries around, including of course Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and to look for any potential infection,” the WHO’s Margaret Harris told a Geneva briefing on Tuesday.
Since declaring an outbreak of the virus on Sunday, Guinea has so far recorded 10 suspected cases and five deaths. The country has also identified 115 contacts of the known cases in the southeastern city of Nzerekore and 10 in the capital Conakry.
DR Congo has reported four new cases this month although it has confirmed that its latest cases are not linked to a new Ebola variant but represent a resurgence of its tenth outbreak, the second-largest on record that caused more than 2,200 deaths in 2018-2020.
WHO said that gene sequencing of Ebola samples from both Congo and Guinea is being carried out to learn more about the origins of the outbreaks and identify the strains.
Guinea’s neighbours include Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Sierra Leone have launched plans to stop any potential spread and reinforced border controls.
