•Ebola outbreak
India and the African Union (AU), yesterday, postponed the India-Africa Forum Summit scheduled for next week in New Delhi, due to the “emerging public health situation” in Africa, India’s foreign ministry said, in an apparent reference to the Ebola outbreak.
A first Ebola case was confirmed in the DR Congo’s rebel-held South Kivu province.
However, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has assured that the country has the capacity to combat the virus; hence, no need for panic, reports The Guardian.
The 2026 India-Africa Forum Summit, scheduled for May 28 to 31, was postponed due to the “evolving health situation in parts of Africa”, India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced yesterday, as health officials in DR Congo tackle an Ebola virus outbreak.
The decision was made in recognition of “the importance of ensuring the full participation and engagement of African leaders and stakeholders, and mindful of the emerging public health situation on the continent”, said a joint statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the AU.
After discussing the “evolving health situation”, India and the AU agreed that it would be “advisable” to hold the summit at a later date, the ministry said. It did not elaborate on the health concerns.
The postponement came as the first Ebola case was confirmed in the DRC’s South Kivu province, in an area under the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 militia’s control, the armed group’s spokesman said yesterday.
Efforts to get a grip on the latest outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic disease, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an international emergency, have been hampered by DRC’s long-running conflicts, including between the Congolese army and the AFC/M23.
According to the WHO, the latest outbreak in the DR Congo, the 17th to hit the vast central African country of more than 100 million people, is already suspected to have caused 139 deaths out of nearly 600 probable cases.
Head of Health Emergency Preparedness at the NCDC, Dr Biodun Ogunniyi, during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ yesterday, said: “fear kills”.
Ogunniyi added: “There is no need to panic because fear kills more than death itself. This is not the first time Nigeria is getting prepared for this kind of outbreak. We had a bit of a scare last year, used that opportunity to test our system, and we are comfortable to an extent.
“Let’s not forget Nigeria has been tested before with Ebola in 2014…, and we know that in less than 70 days, the country was able to wipe this virus out, which received global commendation that made us support other countries in Africa,” he noted.
Nigeria, according to him, has a better health system to combat the virus than during the 2014 outbreak.
“The Bundibugyo Ebola Virus, the first time was in 2007, and if something is not new to you, you are relatively more prepared because it is not new. So, we have the system in place, as a country and as an agency, to quickly coordinate through our Public Health Emergency Operation Centre.
“We have our laboratory capacity, unlike in 2014 when we first had this Ebola outbreak. Now we have the capacity in the country to detect the Ebola virus. There is a network of laboratories across the country, and we have our national reference laboratories both in Abuja and also in Lagos to ensure we can have prompt detection when it happens,” the doctor stated.
His remark follows the new strain of Ebola virus (Bundibugyo) that hit DRC with 513 cases reported and 131 deaths recorded.
