COVID-19 amidst Ebola's retreat

Abstract

In April, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was on the verge of good news—announcing an end to its tenth (and the world's second largest) Ebola outbreak. Unfortunately, since 10 April, new Ebola cases have been reported in Beni, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. Although the DRC has long struggled with political unrest, armed conflict, poverty, and infectious diseases, it must remain committed to ending the Ebola crisis while also applying the lessons learned in tackling this old viral enemy to combat a new one—severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).