Portugal “strongly discourages travel” to Democratic Republic of the Congo – Portugal Resident
A new note on the portal of the Portuguese Communities is warning about the latest outbreak of Ebola, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – essentially discouraging all travel to the country.
There is no treatment or vaccine available for the ‘bundibugyo’ variant of the disease which regularly kills hundreds of people as health authorities grapple to contain outbreaks.
This latest outbreak has already killed around 130 people, with another 500-plus cases confirmed.
Authorities in Africa have declaried a public health emergency, while the World Health Organisation has upped this to a global emergency.
Portugal, like other countries, will be upping its vigilance for any travellers from the region who could be carrying the disease, but Ebola is not something people contract unless they have very close contact with an infected person, or infected animal.
The virus manifests itself with muscle pains, weakness, headaches, sore throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and, in the later stages, serious hemorrhagic fever, and internal bleeding.
As a result of all this, the foreign affairs ministry has strongly discouraged any non-essential travel to the areas immediately affected, and if a trip to the Congo really is necessary, people are told to take every possible precaution and exceptional security measures.
Under conselhos-aos-viajantes/africa/republica-democratica-do-congo, the message warns about a lot more than just the deadly Ebola outbreak. It refers to three provinces in the eastern part of the country affected by conflict with “various armed groups, especially the M23 and the ADF (Islamic-inspired terrorism)” where “even essential travel is strongly discouraged. “There is also an increase in anti-Western aggression in several cities across the country,” the message adds – leaving readers with the overall impression that travelling to the Congo should be avoided at almost every possible cost.
Ebola outbreaks are fairly regularly flagged in parts of Africa. Over the last 50 years, they have killed more than 50,000 people.
Depending on the strain, the mortality rate varies between 25% and 90%, says the World Health Organisation.
Source: noticiasaominuto
