×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

First Ebola patient in eastern Congo's main city dies

by Reuters
Tuesday, 16 July 2019 10:43 GMT

A health worker checks the temperature of a woman as part of the ebola screening upon entering the General Hospital in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 15, 2019. REUTERS/Olivia Acland

Image Caption and Rights Information

The spread of the virus to Goma has raised fears the outbreak, which is already the second deadliest Ebola epidemic ever, could spread more widely

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 16 (Reuters) - The first Ebola patient in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's largest city, Goma, has died, the government said on Tuesday.

The spread of the virus to Goma, a city of roughly 1 million people on the border with Rwanda, has raised fears the outbreak, which is already the second deadliest Ebola epidemic ever, could spread more widely.

The patient was a priest who became infected during a visit to the town of Butembo, one of the epicentres of the outbreak, before taking a bus to Goma, according to Congo's health ministry.

He was being driven from Goma to a clinic in Butembo on Monday to receive treatment when he died, North Kivu province's Governor Carly Nzanzu told an Ebola response meeting.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that health officials had identified 60 people who had come into contact with the pastor since he was taken ill and that half of them had been vaccinated.

Goma, a lakeside city more than 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of where Ebola was first detected a year ago, is the largest city to be affected by the outbreak, which has infected more than 2,500 people and killed nearly 1,700.

Three Ebola cases which originated in Congo were confirmed in neighbouring Uganda a month ago, but no new cases have since been registered in that country.

(Reporting by Stanis Bujakera and Djaffar Al Katanty, Writing by Anna Pujol-Mazzini, Editing by Ed Osmond)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->