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. 2020 Aug;103(2):597-602.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0642. Epub 2020 Jun 19.

Responding to the Challenge of the Dual COVID-19 and Ebola Epidemics in the Democratic Republic of Congo-Priorities for Achieving Control

Jean B Nachega  1   2   3 , Placide Mbala-Kingebeni  4 , John Otshudiema  5 , Linda M Mobula  6 , Wolfgang Preiser  7   8 , Oscar Kallay  9 , Susan Michaels-Strasser  10 , Joel G Breman  11 , Anne W Rimoin  12 , Justus Nsio  4 , Steve Ahuka-Mundeke  4 , Alimuddin Zumla  13   14 , Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tam-Fum  4
Affiliations

Responding to the Challenge of the Dual COVID-19 and Ebola Epidemics in the Democratic Republic of Congo-Priorities for Achieving Control

Jean B Nachega et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

As of June 11, 2020, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 4,258 COVID-19 cases with 90 deaths. With other African countries, the DRC faces the challenge of striking a balance between easing public health lockdown measures to curtail the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and minimizing both economic hardships for large sectors of the population and negative impacts on health services for other infectious and noninfectious diseases. The DRC recently controlled its tenth Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, but COVID-19 and a new EVD outbreak beginning on June 1, 2020 in the northwest Équateur Province have added an additional burden to health services. Although the epidemiology and transmission of EVD and COVID-19 differ, leveraging the public health infrastructures and experiences from coordinating the EVD response to guide the public health response to COVID-19 is critical. Building on the DRC's 40 years of experience with 10 previous EVD outbreaks, we highlight the DRC's multi-sectoral public health approach to COVID-19, which includes community-based screening, testing, contact-tracing, risk communication, community engagement, and case management. We also highlight remaining challenges and discuss the way forward for achieving control of both COVID-19 and EVD in the DRC.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those from the authors and not of any government, organization, or institution.

Disclosure: All authors have a specialist interest in emerging and reemerging pathogens and report no potential conflicts. J. J. M.-T. is leading the COVID-19 Task Force Response in the DRC. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Epidemiology status of COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (as of June 14, 2020).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
COVID-19 daily case numbers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (March 10, 2020–June 9, 2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. World Health Organization , 2020. Available at: https://www.who.int/csr/don/11-June-2020-ebola-drc/en/. Accessed December 6, 2020.

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