The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said that Maldives is closely monitoring the latest outbreak of Ebola, after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda following the rapid spread of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has already claimed dozens of lives in the affected regions.
The declaration comes as health authorities struggle to contain the outbreak, which has spread across multiple provinces and crossed international borders for the first time in the current epidemic. While officials have emphasised that there is currently no threat of a global pandemic, they have warned that the risk of further spread to neighboring countries bordering Congo remains extremely high.
HPA confirmed that Maldives is closely monitoring the situation in connection with the spread of Ebola, though no cases have been reported in the island nation. The agency has indicated that appropriate precautionary measures are being reviewed and prepared should the need arise to protect public health.
According to the World Health Organization, as of 16 May, around 80 people are suspected to have died from the disease in three affected areas—Bunya, Rwampara and Mongbwalu in Congo's Ituri province. The organisation has reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases across the affected regions, while the Congolese Foreign Ministry has confirmed the 80 deaths in the new outbreak in the eastern province. The actual toll is expected to be higher as investigations continue and more samples are tested.
This outbreak marks the seventeenth recorded occurrence of Ebola in Congo, where the virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River, from which the disease derives its name.