Twelve people were ordered to be tested for possible Ebola infection in Goma the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday, only days after three patients in the densely populated city tested positive for the disease, the country’s presidency said.
“A total of 12 people from various centers on the outskirts [of Goma] are undergoing testing after the response team triggered the alert protocol,” it said in a statement.
Six others suspected of carrying the virus were discharged after testing negative on Friday, the presidency added.
Photo: Reuters
A one-year-old girl became the third patient to test positive for Ebola in Goma, local officials said on Wednesday.
She is the daughter of the second patient, a gold miner, who died earlier in the week.
His wife, also infected, and the young girl were in stable condition on Saturday, the presidency said.
Goma is the capital of North Kivu Province, which has borne the brunt of the year-old epidemic that has claimed more than 1,800 lives.
Meanwhile two vehicles carrying members of a team fighting Ebola were shot at on the road between Beni and Butembo, two North Kivu towns that have also suffered badly from the outbreak.
“Happily no one was injured,” police colonel Richard Mbambi said.
Violence against medical staff in the affected provinces where various militias operate has been one reason authorities have struggled to battle the epidemic.
Other countries in the region fear the virus could spread from the DR Congo to their territories.
Mozambique on Saturday set up disease checkpoints along its border with Malawi as a precaution, and officials said Rwanda on Thursday briefly shut its border with the DR Congo.
Meanwhile, a Japanese woman has tested negative for Ebola after developing a fever following a visit to the DR Congo, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.
The 70-year-old developed a fever after returning from her trip on Wednesday last week, and had been admitted to a hospital in Tokyo for tests, the ministry said on its Web site yesterday.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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