WHO chief heads to DRC over Ebola outbreak

Mbandaka, DR Congo. The head of the World Health Organization was due in DR Congo on Saturday to aid preparations for “all scenarios” in combatting the latest Ebola outbreak. “WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on his way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assess the needs of the response first-hand. We are preparing for all scenarios,” the UN health agency said in a statement.

The outbreak in the region northeast of Kinshasa near the border with the Republic of Congo has so far killed 18 people around the town of Bikoro in Equateur province, according to the WHO. A report from the provincial council of ministers, seen by AFP, said there were “three suspected cases” in the region’s capital Mbandaka, which has 700,000 inhabitants. (AFP)