KUALA LUMPUR, August 12 — Over 1,300 people have been vaccinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) against the Ebola virus in the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
No new confirmed cases of the disease has been reported in Goma since WHO’s report in early August.
Fears have been high to ensure that the virus is able to be contained and not spread in this urban centre.
Goma is a city of nearly 2 million people located on the DRC-Rwanda border. It experiences a high traffic of people moving back and forth across the border, which increases the region’s vulnerability to a possible spread of the virus.
The current Ebola outbreak in the east DRC region has killed over 1,800 so far, making it the second largest ever since the virus was discovered in the late 70s. Unfortunately, efforts to contain the outbreak have been hampered by armed conflict due to militia violence and local resistance.
An experimental Ebola vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company Merck, has been an effective instrument in curtailing the spread of the diseases.
It has been credited for preventing the number of fatalities seen during the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa which saw over 11,000 deaths.
