JUBA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Wednesday allayed fears of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) in the Mapel area of the northwestern Wau state following an earlier scare.
The Ministry of Health of South Sudan and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a joint statement issued in Juba that they have completed investigation of the alert case of an unknown illness and confirmed no case of the Ebola strain virus.
"Following the alert from Mapel, Wau state, the ministry of health investigated the alert case of unknown illness and would like to inform the public that the sample tested negative for Ebola Virus Disease and other forms of viral hemorrhagic fever by both GeneXpert and PCR," it said.
In early July 2019, the youngest nation denied outbreak of the deadly viral disease following the death of a 41-year old woman who succumbed to Ebola in Aliwara, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), some 70 km from the border.
The victim in Aliwara was already under surveillance before she died of the viral disease on June 30.
Ebola disease has since the outbreak in November 2018, killed over 2,000 in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which shares a border with South Sudan.
"There is no Ebola outbreak in South Sudan as we speak. I am urging people to ignore circulatory rumors about the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country. People should not panic and be scared of the rumors being spread by social media and local media," it disclosed.
It further called on the public to cooperate with health workers, immigration and security officials to ensure effective screening at all points of entry to prevent the spread of Ebola to the country.
South Sudan launched it's modern national public health laboratory last year to help detect and increase viral disease surveillance.
