The World Health Organization said on Friday that the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that was declared over on Thursday no longer constitutes an international public health emergency.
The WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern last July, about a year after it was first detected.
The epidemic, the second-largest on record, saw 3,463 confirmed and probable cases and 2,277 deaths over two years.
The Congolese Minister of Public Health Dr. Eteni Longondo announced on Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in northeastern region of the Democratic Republic in Ituri and North Kivu provinces is officially over after the country went more than 55 days without reporting a new case.
The DR Congo, still has to deal with a new outbreak in Mbandaka, the capital of the western Equateur province. The outbreak was announced on May 31 and is the country’s 11th outbreak since the virus was discovered near the Ebola River in 1976. There have so far been 24 confirmed cases and 13 people have died in that outbreak, according to authorities.
