Second deadliest Ebola outbreak on record is days from being declared over
It hasn’t been the longest, nor has it been the deadliest. But the Ebola outbreak that has ravaged a corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for much of the past two years has been one of the most challenging on record. With some long overdue luck, the outbreak will be declared over later this week.
The North Kivu-Ituri epidemic, named after the two provinces in eastern DRC where it has raged, is the second longest and second deadliest in history. If, as fervently hoped, Congolese authorities announce that Ebola has been vanquished there on Wednesday or Thursday, the outbreak will have lasted nearly 23 months. At least 3,463 people have been infected, and 2,280 of them having died. Those numbers could still rise: 490 so-called suspect cases are still being investigated to see if they should be added to the tally, according to the Congolese health ministry.
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