The woman was found on February 1 with symptoms of the virus in the city of Biena, near the city of Butembo, and died in hospital on February 3. She is married to a man who contracted the virus in a previous outbreak.
“The provincial response team is already working hard. It will be supported by the national response team that will visit Butembo soon,” the ministry said in a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which assists response efforts, says it has tracked down more than 70 contacts of the woman. The places she visited are also disinfected.
It is not yet clear whether this case is the beginning of a new outbreak or whether it is a manageable flare-up of the last. Samples of the woman were sent to the capital Kinshasa to confirm the connection with the previous outbreak.
“It is not uncommon for sporadic cases to occur after a serious outbreak,” the WTO said in a statement. It added that the WTO epidemiologists on the ground were investigating, but that emergency response efforts had been hampered by ongoing uncertainty in the region.
The rise of more cases could complicate efforts to wipe out Covid-19, which infected 23,600 people and killed 681 in the DRC. A coronavirus vaccination campaign is expected to begin in the first half of this year.
However, an Ebola vaccine and a well-born health system mean the country is better placed than ever to deal with outbreaks, even in urban areas. Ebola has a much higher mortality rate than Covid-19, but unlike coronavirus, it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. And the lessons learned from the battle with the multiple outbreaks have helped stop the spread of the coronavirus.
A recurring issue
The disease of the Ebola virus can cause fever, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea, among others. It is transmitted through contact with infected animals or with body fluids of infected people.
The DRC’s equatorial forests were a breeding ground for Ebola. The disease killed nearly 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020, in the world’s second largest Ebola outbreak recorded.
The country has experienced 11 outbreaks since the virus was first discovered near the Ebola River in the DRC in 1976 – more than double any other country.
Furthermore, the ongoing military violence in the northeast, including attacks on health centers, claimed the lives of residents and health workers. Nearly a million people had to flee their homes alone in 2019, the UN agency said, making access to medical care and prevention even more difficult.