Africa

Rwanda Closes Border With Congo Over Ebola Outbreak

Rwanda's state minister of foreign affairs said the risk of regional spread is "very high."

Rwanda Closes Border With Congo Over Ebola Outbreak
World Health Organization

Rwanda is closing its border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The state minister of foreign affairs confirmed the decision was over concerns of Ebola. 

This comes after a man died from the virus in Goma. It's a city of 2 million people on the border of Rwanda and the Congo. He was the second confirmed case in the city. 

The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in the Congo in August of 2018. Since then, the Ministry of Health of the DRC reported 1,803 deaths from the disease. 

While Rwanda closes its border, WHO continues to work on vaccinations from within. It's marked 15 districts in the country as high priority, according to a July 21 situation report

It says the "majority of the 148,000 registered Refugees in Rwanda are from the Congo." It reported almost 600 front-line workers have been vaccinated in eight of the 15 districts, as of April.  

But the organization said funding for Ebola preparedness activities ended in June. Activities included: raising public awareness to reduce disease exposure, readying rapid response teams to investigate cases, and handling safe burials of Ebola victims.