Ebola outbreak: 600 suspected cases, 139 deaths, numbers expected to rise, says WHO chief

Geneva: The head ‌of ​the World Health Organization said on Wednesday there were 600 suspected cases of Ebola and 139 suspected ⁠deaths and numbers are expected to rise given the amount of ‌time the virus circulated before the outbreak was detected.A ‌WHO Emergency Committee met ‌on Tuesday in ‌Geneva and confirmed ‌that the latest Ebola outbreak ​of the ‌rare ​Bundibugyo strain of the ⁠virus is a public health emergency of international ​concern ⁠but ⁠not a pandemic emergency, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom ⁠Ghebreyesus said.Tedros declared the emergency at the weekend, the first time a WHO chief has taken ‌that step without first consulting experts, due ​to the urgency of the situation, he said.Earlier, a U.S. doctor was transferred from Uganda to a hospital in Prague after coming into contact with a patient infected with Ebola, Czech health officials said.The doctor is showing no ⁠symptoms of the deadly virus and will be hospitalised as a precaution following a request from the United States, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said ‌on X on Wednesday.More than 130 deaths have been linked to an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic ‌Republic of Congo, and cases have been confirmed ‌in neighbouring Uganda.The Faculty Hospital Bulovka in ‌Prague, which specialises ‌in infectious diseases, said late on Tuesday the patient was being transported in ​an isolation unit ‌and was ​expected to arrive on Wednesday ⁠evening.”The case does not pose a risk to the public in the Czech Republic, and procedures for ​similar ⁠situations are ⁠clearly set,” the hospital said.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo ⁠strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.The outbreak has alarmed experts because ‌it was able to spread for weeks undetected across a densely ​populated area ravaged by widespread armed violence.An outbreak in eastern Congo from 2018 to 2020 was the second deadliest on record and killed nearly 2,300 ​people.