To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking, with their international partners, to check the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and what estimate they have made of the number of Ebola (1) cases, and (2) related deaths, in that country since August 2018.
Answered on
5 June 2019
The UK is taking the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo extremely seriously. We are working with international partners to monitor the outbreak, and have been a leading donor to the response. UK funding to the World Health Organisation and UNICEF has enabled key activities critical to ending the outbreak including surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and control and vaccination.
As of 27 May 2019, there have been 1,920 confirmed and probable cases and 1,281 deaths. However, consistent disruption to response activities, a high proportion of community deaths, and a low proportion of cases from known contacts, means that the number of cases may be higher than reported.