Ebola and COVID-19 in Democratic Republic of Congo: grappling with two plagues at once

• Published in: Tropical Medicine and Health
• Main Authors: Fatima Muhammad Asad Khan, Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Zohra Kazmi, Ana Carla dos Santos Costa, Abdullahi Tunde Aborode, Shoaib Ahmad, Mohammad Yasir Essar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021
• Subjects: Ebola; COVID-19; Democratic Republic of Congo; Outbreak; Pandemic; Public health; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-021-00356-6; https://doaj.org/article/320043c568994cd0a873e930db4be395

Abstract In February 2021, a new Ebola virus disease outbreak was confirmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the country has successfully contained the outbreak amid its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the epidemiological situation is still concerning, primarily due to the risk of an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The coexistence of both outbreaks increased the burden on the country’s health system mainly because Ebola response programs were redirected to the COVID-19 national response. Strategies adopted and lessons learned from previous Ebola outbreaks were crucial to developing the COVID-19 national response. To tackle the challenges of combating both the viruses, it is essential to adopt multidisciplinary measures such as prevention, education, and vaccination campaigns, promoting hygiene and social distancing practices, and improving diagnostic and management protocols. This paper discusses the efforts, challenges, and possible solutions to grapple with Ebola amid the COVID-19 crisis in DRC successfully.