2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola virus outbreak
2018 CE.
Shown on the map at -0.750°, 18.117°.
The 2018 Équateur Province Ebola outbreak occurred in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from May to July 2018. It was contained entirely within Équateur Province, and was the first time that vaccination with the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine had been attempted in the early stages of an Ebola outbreak, with a total of 3,481 people vaccinated. It was the ninth recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC. The outbreak began on 8 May 2018, when it was reported that 17 people were suspected of having died from EVD near the town of Bikoro in the Province of Équateur. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak after two people were confirmed as having the disease. On 17 May, the virus was confirmed to have spread to the inland port city of Mbandaka, causing the WHO to raise its assessment of the national risk level to "very high", but not yet to constitute an international public health emergency. The WHO declared the outbreak over on 24 July 2018, with 33 confirmed deaths. Subsequent to the end of this outbreak, the Kivu Ebola epidemic commenced in the eastern region of the country on 1 August 2018; it was declared over on 25 June 2020 with 2,280 deaths recorded.
Text from the Wikipedia article 2018 Équateur Province Ebola outbreak, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.