I really hope that COVID-19 doesn't make serious inroads in Africa. But given that the DR Congo's response is being led by Jean-Jacques Muyembe Ntamfum, who's now also mopping up the Ebola outbreak, I'm certainly going to blog his daily updates, like this one: Covid-19: Bulletin n ° 4 Friday, March 27, 2020. Excerpt from the Google translation:
PRESIDENCY OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
MULTI-SECTORAL COMMITTEE ON THE COVID-19 RESPONSE IN THE DRC (CMR_COVID-19)
TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SITUATION
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF COVID-19 IN THE PROVINCE OF KINSHASA
Date: Friday, March 27, 2020
• Since the start of the epidemic declared on March 10, 2020, the cumulative total is 58 confirmed cases. In total, there were 5 deaths and 3 people healed.
o 4 new confirmed cases in Kinshasa;
NEWS
Technical Secretary Clarifies Origin of Confirmed Eastern DRC Case
• The Technical Secretary of the Multisectoral Committee for the Pandemic Response to Covid-19, Prof. Jean-Jacques Muyembe Ntamfum, provided details this Friday March 27, 2020 on the confirmed case of the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced in his communication of March 26, 2020 in Kinshasa as a case of North Kivu;
• He affirmed that this case was rather from the province of Ituri and that it is a 35-year-old man, mining operator by profession of Congolese nationality, resident in the village Mbandi in Nyakunde in the province of Ituri;
• This case, the sample of which was taken and sent to the INRB Kinshasa which confirmed it as positive, on March 26, 2020, has been isolated;
• "Investigations are underway to determine if this is an indigenous or imported case," said the RMC Technical Secretary Covid-19;
• In total, 23 contact persons were pre-listed around this case, including 8 service colleagues, 7 sick patients, 7 care providers and 1 taximan.
