First confirmed Ebola cases in DR Congo’s South Kivu province Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | The eastern DR Congo province of South Kivu has recorded its first confirmed cases of Ebola in the country’s year-old epidemic, one of which was a fatality, the provincial government said Friday. “Two cases …
Read More »DRC Ebola tsar Muyembe delighted by drug breakthrough
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo’s pointman on Ebola voiced delight on Tuesday after researchers announced that two prototype drugs boost chances of surviving the dreaded disease. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, newly appointed by President Felix Tshisekedi to coordinate the year-long campaign against Ebola, said that out of four confirmed …
Read More »Scientists a step closer to a cure for Ebola
Two Ebola drugs found to increase survival rates: health officials Washington, United States | AFP | Scientists were a step closer to a cure for Ebola on Monday after two of four drugs in a clinical trial were found to significantly increase survival rates, the US health authority co-funding the …
Read More »WHO declares world emergency after Ebola gets to Goma
DR Congo Ebola outbreak ‘health emergency’ of international concern: WHO Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a “public health emergency of international concern,” a rare designation only used for the gravest epidemics. The Ebola epidemic …
Read More »Ebola spreads to Goma, close to Rwanda border
Pastor confirmed with Ebola as disease spreads in DR Congo Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The first case of Ebola has been confirmed in Goma, the biggest city to have been affected by the disease since its outbreak in eastern DR Congo last August, the health ministry said on …
Read More »Tshisekedi’s DRC seeks membership of East African trade bloc
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said Thursday that his country was seeking to join the East African Community, a regional political and economic bloc. The DRC shares borders with four of the six members of the bloc, and Tshisekedi said on a …
Read More »Ebola-hit DR Congo fears 1,500 dead from measles epidemic
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared an epidemic of measles which may have killed 1,500 people, according to statistical analysis. “We have been seeing an increase in the number of suspected cases of measles since the start of the year, …
Read More »High-security Ebola burials spark dismay, anger in DR Congo
Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | People in Ebola-hit eastern DR Congo are struggling to come to terms with high-security burials that are part of a hard-pressed strategy to roll back the disease. Anyone who dies of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever has to be buried in carefully-controlled conditions designed …
Read More »Tshisekedi finally appoints PM, Katumbi returns to DRC
Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday named a government veteran, Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, as the next prime minister, a move that came nearly four months after his inauguration. Ilunga Ilunkamba was appointed under “the political agreement” between Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph …
Read More »Opposition leader urges ‘people power’ to oust DRC president Tshisekedi
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Martin Fayulu, who claims he was robbed of victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election, on Sunday called for people power to drive President Felix Tshisekedi from power, an AFP journalist reported. Citing popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan, he told a …
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