WHO announces first confirmed Ebola recovery in DRC outbreak

She highlighted the complexity of responding to such outbreaks, where to halt transmission, “you have to have communities not touch someone they love when they are feeling sick”.

“What’s the most important thing is that we can support them to get early access to care,” she said, stressed that this could greatly improve survival rates.

No travel restrictions recommended

Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.

The DRC is on its 17th outbreak of the disease, the deadliest of which claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.

No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak.

The strain can have a case fatality rate of up to 50 percent.

For the known cases in this outbreak, the rate currently appears to be below 25 percent, although that number is evolving.

Legand stressed it was possible to “do more” to push Ebola’s “huge” fatality rate down.

“We can scale up optimised intensive care. We can support the communities to recognise the symptoms early to get early diagnostics, so that they can receive the level of care they need,” she pointed out.

“Access to care can help save life.”

To rein in transmission, the WHO says strong infection prevention and control and safe burials of highly infective bodies of those who have died from Ebola is also essential.

The agency does not meanwhile recommend international travel restrictions, although it say no one who is sick with Ebola should travel, nor should anyone from the affected areas who are contacts of confirmed or suspected cases.

DRC and Uganda are also required under the so-called International Health Regulations to implement exit screening measures.

But beyond that, Legand said that “based on current information, WHO does not recommend any restriction on travel or trade with the Democratic Republic of the Congo or with Uganda”.