African Officials Agree to Keep Borders Open Amid Ebola Outbreak

Rwanda (ANTARA) – African health ministers have agreed to keep their countries’ borders open despite the rapid spread of an Ebola outbreak in the region, according to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) head Jean Kaseya on Thursday (29 October).

The announcement followed a high-level virtual meeting convened by Africa CDC to assess the Ebola situation and discuss ways to strengthen cross-border coordination.

More than 40 African ministers attended the emergency meeting, held amid the rapid geographical spread of an Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus variant.

So far, four countries have been affected: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.

The meeting decided that each country should prepare and work together across borders to prevent the virus from spreading further. It has claimed nearly 5,000 lives since May, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to Africa CDC, confirmed cases have exceeded 10,170, with a case fatality rate of 48.5 per cent.

“I stood before more than 40 African ministers and presented what the data shows: so far, we have not won,” Kaseya said.

“Together, we agreed to prepare every country, coordinate across borders and keep those borders open while continuing to monitor the situation closely. Our partners fully support this African plan,” he added.

Kaseya told the ministers that over the past five months, the outbreak had grown from a national crisis into a test of health resilience across the continent.

He said that although the top priority was to stop Ebola in Africa, challenges included security problems, a complex humanitarian situation and funding constraints.

Ugandan Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said his country’s experience showed that transmission could be stopped if countries acted early and decisively.

In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Uganda free of Ebola. The country had reported 20 confirmed cases after the outbreak was declared in May.

Africa CDC has warned that 10 other African countries are “at risk” of being affected by the virus following the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Zambia.