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WHO bats for over 11,000 Ebola vaccines in Guinea this weekend

WION Web Team
Dakar, SenegalUpdated: Feb 18, 2021, 04:34 PM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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The WHO has already asked six African countries to be alert for possible Ebola infections after Guinea reported new cases.

More than 11,000 Ebola vaccines are expected to arrive in Guinea this weekend, with more to follow, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told a news conference that 11,000 doses were being prepared in Geneva, while 8,600 more doses would be shipped from the United States. Mass inoculations could start as soon as Monday.

Health authorities in the region and international organisations aim to halt a resurgence of the disease in Guinea and Congo to prevent a repeat of the 2013-16 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, making it the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.

The WHO has already asked six African countries to be alert for possible Ebola infections after Guinea reported new cases.

The Democratic Republic of Congo also said there was a new resurgence of a previous outbreak.

(with inputs from agencies)