The World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee is meeting to decide whether to declare an Ebola epidemic an international threat, after an outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo crossed into Uganda.
The WHO panel, which was formed in 2005, has used the label ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)’ for only four previous epidemics.
Congo’s epidemic is the second worst worldwide since West Africa’s Ebola outbreak in 2014-16, with 2,084 cases and 1,405 deaths since being declared in August. The WHO said Thursday that two people had died in Uganda having arrived with the disease from Congo.
WHAT IS EBOLA?
The WHO panel, officially known as the International Health Regulations and Emergency Committee, has met twice already on the current DRC outbreak.
It held off making the emergency call at previous meetings in October and April, in part because the virus had not spread internationally.
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