The Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday declared an outbreak of Ebola after a case was confirmed in Mbandaka, a city in Equateur Province.

It is the fourteenth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1976 and the current outbreak is the third since 2018.

The announcement came barely four months after the DRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) celebrated the end of the 13th Ebola outbreak in the country on December 16, 2021.

The end of the 13th outbreak of Ebola virus disease—which resurfaced on October 8, 2021, in the health zone of Beni in the province of North Kivu—was declared over 42 days after the last patient tested negative.

However, on April 21, the patient was admitted to an Ebola Treatment Centre for intensive care but died later that day. Having recognised the symptoms, health workers immediately submitted samples to be tested for Ebola virus disease. Investigations to determine the source of the outbreak are ongoing, according to the World Health Organisation.

“Time is not on our side, “said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. “The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up. The positive news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly.”

Though Mbandaka city is not close to South Sudan, the country’s ministry of health needs to beef up surveillance at the border with the DRC to contain the outbreak due to the frequent movement of people cross-border, and movement between the two countries. Both countries are hosting refugees from each other, which makes it possible for them to have frequent movements.

Therefore, the ministry of health and its health partners, such as the WHO, need to be reactive and utilise the surveillance centre in Western Equatoria State that was established at the borders with the DRC to prevent the spread of the deadly virus into the country. The Western Equatoria State government also needs to revitalise its Ebola task force that was formed in 2014.

However, it is good to acknowledge the effort of the government and health partners in containing Ebola since its first outbreak in the neighbouring DRC in 2018. It has been a great job, and they need to maintain it.