Update regarding Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Since our first alert concerning the matter on 17th July, Europ Assistance has been carefully monitoring the evolution of the Ebola Virus Fever epidemic in the Democratic Republic of The Congo (DRC), which was declared a Public Health Emergency of International concern by the WHO on 17thJuly 2019. There was and still is a particular concern regarding potential spread in Goma itself, a large city of a million inhabitants where a first case had been identified that week, but also of transmission across the nearby borders of Uganda and Rwanda or even further given the international air travel between Goma and the rest of the world. Luckily neither local public health authorities nor the WHO have reported any spread yet (and the WHO even commended Rwanda for its preparation efforts).
Therefore the recommendations from Europ Assistance to its clients remain totally identical, namely to:
- Avoid any travel to the Eastern DRC unless directly involved in the fight against the outbreak
- If involved in the fight against the outbreak vaccination should be considered
- Have no contacts with people affected by the disease or their contacts, including at funerals
- Do not eat bush meat
- Do not travel out of the country and be screened if you have any symptoms such as fever or diarrhea.
There ought to be no restrictions regarding travel to neighboring countries or unaffected areas of the DRC.