Ebola Outbreak: DR Congo's Goma confirms 4th case
Updated 11:32, 03-Aug-2019
To the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a fourth case of Ebola has been confirmed in the eastern city of Goma. Officials say it may continue to spread. The government has stepped up surveillance and issued guidelines to contain the outbreak. CGTN's Chris Ocamringa reports from Kinshasa.
CHRIS OCAMRINGA KINSHASA, DR CONGO Health authorities in the DRC have confirmed the fourth case of Ebola in this country in the eastern part of Goma.
That is the capital of North Kivu province. It's a city that has a population of about two million people and shares a border with Rwanda. Now officials from the DRC are very concerned that this outbreak may spread to that country, so what they have done is they have stepped up the surveillance. They have issued guidelines to the people so that they can protect themselves from contacting this very deadly disease that has killed more than 1800 people since it was declared in August last year. 
Officials here have said that they need to step up the identification of the contacts - people who have come into contact with Ebola patients. Because they are saying that about 50% of cases are going undetected. That's a very big concern. The population in Goma is very mobile. They keep travelling across doing cross-border trade. It's very difficult to trace people in such a city as compared to the remote areas of the DRC. But they have come up with ways of trying to ensure that people do not travel. They have issued guidelines to limit their movements for the next 21 days. That is the period within which the symptoms of Ebola start showing.
Authorities are working very closely with the members of the international community to ensure that this outbreak is brought to an end. They are coming up with what they call the four strategic response plan. This is a program that will cover the next six months.
CHRIS OCAMRINGA KINSHASA, DR CONGO "You know aimed at bringing this outbreak to an end. There is hope if they get the money, the WHO has been urging the world, this outbreak will be contained."