By Janice Kew.
South Africa is preparing for a possible Ebola outbreak as the virus continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), underscoring concerns that the continent’s busiest travel hubs may eventually import cases.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday in an interview on broadcaster eNCA that the government has designated 36 hospitals – including 12 private and 24 public facilities – to manage any Ebola patients should the virus reach the country.
Three specialist committees have also been coordinating readiness exercises, running simulations and training healthcare workers.
“We prepare ourselves with the assumption that the disease may come to any country,” Motsoaledi said.
“We have selected hospitals that will be used in the case of an outbreak.”
Congo is battling the largest recorded outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has infected almost 1 600 people and killed more than 500. A small number of linked cases have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda.
There are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for this variant.
Patients are however now receiving experimental therapies through a World Health Organisation-sponsored clinical trial in eastern Congo.
South Africa’s preparations reflect its role as one of the region’s largest aviation hubs, with Johannesburg serving as a major gateway for passengers traveling across the continent.
Public health experts say that countries with extensive regional travel links need to maintain high levels of surveillance and preparedness even when outbreaks are confined elsewhere, as rapid identification, isolation and contact tracing are critical to preventing local transmission after an imported case.
Infectious diseases specialist Salim Abdool Karim, who chairs an advisory panel to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has warned that if the outbreak in Congo is not brought under control, it will be “a matter of time” before an Ebola case is imported into South Africa.
Despite daily flights between South Africa and Congo, the southern African nation has so far avoided any Ebola cases through containment efforts, Johannesburg-based Business Day newspaper reported last month, citing Karim.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently visited the DRC to demonstrate the African Union’s support for the country’s response to the outbreak, and pledged assistance from both South Africa and the bloc.
While the number of newly confirmed infections in the DRC has eased in recent days, health authorities say transmission remains intense in the eastern province of Ituri, where overcrowded treatment centres, gaps in contact tracing and community resistance continue to hamper efforts to contain the outbreak.