Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have intercepted a passenger boat outside Kinshasa following the death of a former passenger suspected of having Ebola, officials said Wednesday.
The vessel, which traveled from the outbreak-hit Tshopo province, was halted about 65 km from central Kinshasa. Health Minister Roger Kamba said the alert was triggered after a passenger disembarked in Mongala province developed symptoms including a fever and diarrhea, and later died.
“We are being cautious,” Kamba said, noting that it was a suspected case rather than a confirmed one.
A security and health cordon has been established around the vessel while a mobile laboratory tested all passengers and crew, government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said later Wednesday.
Officials urged calm in Kinshasa, a megacity of nearly 20 million people where no Ebola case has been confirmed. The capital is not among the five provinces affected by the outbreak.
The incident coincided with a high-level meeting on strengthening the national response to the Ebola outbreak, held on Wednesday and chaired by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, alongside World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya.
Participants stressed the need to protect health workers and detect cases earlier to reduce deaths occurring in homes and communities, according to the DRC presidential office.
Meanwhile, the global medical charity Doctors Without Borders warned Wednesday that the situation in eastern DRC was “more critical than ever,” spreading at an alarming and unprecedented pace with “no sign of slowing down.”
The DRC is battling its largest Ebola outbreak, which has recorded 3,973 confirmed cases since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 1,801 deaths and 776 recoveries.
