A second death linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was recorded Sunday, 48 hours after a first case that marked a resumption of the epidemic. A child died of hemorrhagic fever in the city of Beni, which was one of the epicenters of this epidemic declared on August 1, 2018, said the Congolese health authorities. This second case attended the same health center as the victim recorded Friday, a 26-year-old man. "This is a co-patient of the confirmed case on April 10," in the words of the statement from the multisectoral committee for the response to the Ebola virus disease.
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On Friday, the death of a 26-year-old man near Beni was reported after 52 days without a new case of Ebola, Congolese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The DRC and the WHO were preparing to officially proclaim the end of the epidemic on Monday, encouraged by the disappearance of new cases and the discharge of the last patient from an Ebola treatment center in Beni on March 3. The DRC must now wait 42 days (twice the maximum incubation time) without new cases to proclaim the end of this tenth epidemic on Congolese soil which killed 2,276 people according to the Congolese health authorities.