The United Nations plans to release $15 million from its emergency relief fund to help fight the new outbreaks of Ebola in Guinea and Congo, according to U.N. humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock.
According to U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric,
“The funding will help both countries respond to the outbreak and support neighbouring countries to prepare.
“The outbreak in Congo “is in the same area as the 10th Ebola epidemic in the country that claimed more than 2,200 lives from August 2018 to June 2020.
“Details of how the $15 million will be allocated will be made in the next few days as we receive more details about specific requirements and needs on the ground.”
Read also: Fresh Ebola outbreak looms as Guinea records three deaths
What you should know
- Guinea declared the new outbreak on February 14, four years after the world’s worst Ebola crisis in West Africa between 2013 and 2016.
- Congo announced its latest and 12th outbreak on February 7 after a woman died of the disease in the northern province of Kivu.
- Sierra Leone and Liberia, the neighbouring nations, have been put on red alert because of the situation in Guinea.
- It is to be noted that three nations, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo, battled the world’s deadliest Ebola outbreak from 2014 to 2016, which began in Guinea and in which more than 11,300 people died.
