The telegraph
Guinea declares new Ebola outbreak
Guinea declared a new Ebola outbreak on Sunday, when tests were positive for the virus after at least three people died and four fell ill in the southeast – the first resurgence of the disease there since the world’s worst outbreak in 2013-2016. The seven patients fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a funeral at Goueke’s subprefecture. Those still alive have been isolated in treatment centers, the health ministry said. It was not clear whether the person buried on February 1 also died of Ebola. She was a nurse at a local health center who died of an unspecified illness after being transferred for treatment to Nzerekore, a city near the border with Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. “In view of this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean government declares an Ebola epidemic,” the ministry said in a statement. The 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa began in Nzerekore, whose proximity to busy borders has hampered efforts to contain the virus. It killed at least 11,300 people, with the vast majority of cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Fighting Ebola again will put additional pressure on Guinea’s health services as they fight the coronavirus. Guinea, a country with about 12 million inhabitants, has so far registered 14,895 coronavirus infections and 84 deaths. The Ebola virus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and is transmitted by contact with body fluids. It has a much higher mortality rate than Covid-19, but, unlike the coronavirus, it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. The ministry said health professionals are working to track and isolate contacts from Ebola cases and will open a treatment center in Goueke, which is less than an hour’s drive from Nzerekore.