The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that he does not support countries that have decided to stop travel to Rwanda due to the Marburg epidemic.
Marburg fever has been reported in Rwanda since September 27, 2024. As of October 19, 62 people have been infected, while 44 have recovered from the hospital and 15 have died, while three were being treated by 'doctors.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that in the first and second weeks, the number of infections was the same, but in the third week, the number of infections decreased by 50%, while in the last week, which began on October 14-20, new infections decreased. 92% At the end of September 2024, the United States of America asked the employees of its Embassy in Rwanda to work using technology instead of going to the office, because of the Marburg epidemic that appeared in Rwanda.
In October, the United States immediately imposed a decision to test all travelers entering the country from Rwanda due to the epidemic.
Only the health authorities in Rwanda have implemented measures that include providing immediate treatment, vaccination and follow-up of all people who have been in contact with a person who has been exposed to this disease and tested until no new patient or death has been seen in the last six days.
The Director-General of the United Nations, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, when he was in a press conference on October 20, 2024, announced that they do not support countries that have implemented measures to prevent travel to Rwanda because it would affect the country's economy.
He said, "The WHO has condemned the actions of stopping travel, whether for tourism or business, because that decision is not necessary, and it would harm Rwanda's economy.
Some of the countries have followed this advice but some have banned travel [to Rwanda]. We ask those countries to reverse that decision.”
The Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, indicated that the current figures give hope for the rapid suppression of the Marburg epidemic. He said, "It has been almost six days that no one has been infected with this virus and no one has died.
It gives hope even though the epidemic is not over yet, but it also makes us continue our efforts so that there is still a gap, if there is one person who has met the infected person without looking for him, we can reach him and thus achieve victory. ”
Dr Nsanzimana said that research has shown that the first person who was infected with this virus in Rwanda a few days ago had contact with a caveman who infected him with this virus because it is similar to the one that was detected in the region in 2014.
He said that it takes 42 days without a new infection to confirm that the epidemic has completely disappeared from Rwanda. The WHO confirms that the activities carried out by Rwanda in dealing with this epidemic and the drugs used to treat infected people will be collected so that they can be used to deal with other epidemics in the future.
