GENEVA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned Tuesday that the current response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is far from over, and announced to expand its operation there.
"We must remain vigilant and we need to continue strengthening community based-surveillance. The risk of spreading within the country and to neighboring nations remains real," said Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, IFRC's regional director for Africa. "One of the lessons we learned in our response to other deadly Ebola outbreaks is that complacency can kill."
The IFRC is currently launching an international emergency appeal for 1.6 million Swiss francs (about 1.6 million U.S. dollars) to support the DR Congo's Red Cross in helping more than 716,000 people over the coming six months.
"Our emergency operation includes a major focus on safe and dignified burials. This was a critical intervention in West Africa where it prevented as many as 10,000 additional cases," said Dr Nafo-Traore.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the DR Congo had reported 51 cases of Ebola, of which 28 have been confirmed, 21 considered probable and the rest two are suspect cases. The total death toll has amounted to 27.
The WHO has already begun vaccinations in a hospital in Mbandaka, a city of around 1.5 million people, where conditions and facilities are sufficiently robust to ensure the safe storage of the Ebola vaccine.
The WHO said that access to Bikoro, the major infected area, is much more difficult than Mbandaka, and that one of the main challenges is ensuring that the vaccines can be stored at up to minus 80 degrees Celsius.
The current Ebola outbreak is the ninth to happen in the DR Congo since the virus was discovered in 1976. It was named after the Ebola river near the village where it was discovered.
