The Central African Republic is “not prepared” for a possible wave of the deadly Ebola virus from neighbouring DR Congo where an epidemic has claimed more than 1,700 lives, Health Minister Pierre Somse said Thursday.
The admission comes a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo a “public health emergency of international concern,” a rare designation used only for the most serious epidemics.
No cases of Ebola have so far been reported in the CAR, but “economic and human exchanges are very intense” on the border between the two countries, Somse told a news conference.
WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern