Zaire ebolavirus

The Russian consumer safety watchdog follows the information about outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and particularly monitors the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after reports on Disease X, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare told TASS on Sunday.

A new case of Ebola virus disease was confirmed in the city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"While not welcome news, this is an event we anticipated. We kept response teams in Beni and other high risk areas for precisely this reason," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.  

More than 2,700 people contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019, and more than 1,800 died. This is according to data from the World Health Organization, published in Geneva, TASS reported.

The situation had become critical when the virus had spread to the city of Goma, home to two million citizens. This city is situated on the border with Uganda, and Congo officials claim that a priest who used several false names brought the disease into the city.