ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for strict regional preparedness to avert further spread of the ongoing Ebola outbreak, as the number of confirmed cases has reached 8,750 alongside a mounting death toll.
Addressing an online press briefing on Thursday evening, Wessam Mankoula, an Africa CDC official, lauded Kenya's preparedness and ongoing response efforts, as the country became the latest country to record a Bundibugyo Ebola case.
Calling for enhanced regional preparedness and solidarity, he highlighted that the East African country's prior investments in preparedness have enabled it to respond quickly to the imported case and strengthen contact tracing.
"Ebola is crossing another border. However, at the Africa CDC, we are calling for vigilance, not banning," said Mankoula.
Kenyan authorities are currently tracing contacts linked to its first imported case and have enhanced disease surveillance to avoid the potential spread of the virus, after a 40-year-old patient, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for seven years, died from the disease in a Nairobi hospital on Monday.
Africa CDC officials stressed that the imported case has triggered concern over the disease's spread. The patient moved across the DRC, Uganda, and Kenya before testing positive, highlighting how quickly the virus can cross borders and threaten regional health security.
Mankoula said the current crisis, regarded as the fastest-growing and second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, at week 21, has recorded 4.1 times more cases and 3.7 times more deaths than the next-highest comparator, the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak.
The latest data from the African Union's specialized continental public health agency showed that confirmed cases in the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak have reached 8,750, with more than 4,208 deaths and a case fatality rate of 48.1 percent. Some 2,288 patients have recovered from the deadly disease, while 1,066 patients are currently in isolation.
Beyond the DRC, Uganda, and Kenya, 10 other countries across the continent have been previously designated as high-risk: South Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Somalia.
The Africa CDC declared the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of continental security on May 18, one day after the World Health Organization declared the situation a public health emergency of international concern.
Ebola is highly contagious and can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding. ■