Congolese health authorities were screening more than 300 people traveling on a river boat intercepted near Kinshasa, DR Congo, on Thursday after a passenger suspected of having Ebola died.
Authorities deployed a mobile laboratory to a vessel stopped in Maluku, DR Congo, around 65km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday.
Body Ilonga Bompoko, the secretary general of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry, said all passengers were undergoing temperature checks and clinical screening.
The screening measures include temperature checks and clinical examinations for all passengers. Samples have been collected from four passengers with symptoms including fever and sent for testing, with results expected on Friday, according to Bompoko.
Health authorities in Mongala province reported the death on July 25 of a 32-year-old man suspected of having Ebola who was believed to have traveled on the vessel.
Il faut intensifier la riposte contre Ebola
The head of the World Health Organization, who has been visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo since Wednesday, said: “Il faut intensifier la riposte contre Ebola” (We must intensify the response against Ebola).
A suspected Ebola case was reported on a boat heading towards Kinshasa on Thursday, involving a man who died with symptoms corresponding to the Ebola virus.
