News > Epidemics that weren’t: how countries fared

Epidemics that weren’t: how countries fared

When Ebola swept through eastern Congo in 2018, it was difficult to track down cases. It took at least a week to get test results, and health officials struggled to isolate sick people while they waited. It took the country two years to control that outbreak and more than 2,300 people died. A similar disaster threatened Congo in September 2021. Members of a family in North Kivu province fell ill one after the other with fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Then their neighbors got sick too.