Since last May 15, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been facing a new outbreak of the coronavirus, the seventeenth in its history, according to EFE. It is estimated that the number of infected already exceeds a thousand, while the number of deaths has risen to 238, as indicated in the latest bulletin shared by the Government.
The virus, which has spread to other neighboring countries such as Uganda, has a rate of average mortality between 25% and 90%, According to the WHO, the Zaire variant is the deadliest, although it is also the only one that has authorized vaccines and treatments.
The situation is such that the UN health agency has declared it a “public health emergency of international concern.” Furthermore, fearing that it could spread to other countries, as has already happened, some powers are beginning to allocate resources and financing to the African country.
One of them has been the United States, whose position has been harshly criticized by various organizations after trying, without success, to build a quarantine and treatment center against Ebola. instead of repatriating its infected citizens. One of those who took a position against it was the Katiba Institute, which presented a petition to the courts to avoid said center.
“The case is about preserving accountability at the constitutional level, protecting public health and guaranteeing that no government can put its convenience above the life and safety of the people of Kenya,” said the executive director of the organization, as reported by the local press and EP.
“It could make things worse”
Another of the critics has been the doctor Craig Spencer, who managed to survive Ebola after contracting it in Guinea in 2014. And, as he has defended, the refusal of the United States to repatriate its infected citizens demonstrates more a political concern rather than a medical necessity.
“This represents a disappointing abdication of what we owe our citizens, especially when they need us most,” he said. “Like many of the administration’s perverse and inverted priorities that have been unveiled over the past week, this ‘plan’ could end up making things even worse,” he added.
