WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
In a post on X, the World Health Organization said the outbreak of the disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, and advised against the closure of international borders.
Officials first announced the spread of the disease in Congo on Friday, reporting 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases. On Saturday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths.
Congo accounts for all except two of the cases, both of which were reported in neighboring Uganda, the WHO said.
Uganda on Saturday confirmed one case it said was imported from Congo, and said the patient died at a hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the WHO said that a second case has been reported in Kampala. The two cases had no apparent links to each other and both patients had traveled from Congo, it added.
