Mexico City: Britain has allocated up to 20 million pounds ($26.87 million) in new aid funding to help contain an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UK’s Foreign Office said on Thursday.
As of Wednesday, there were 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths in Congo. Fifty-one cases have been confirmed by laboratory testing in Congo, and two cases have also been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda. The outbreak is expected to continue to grow, the World Health Organization has said.
The funding will help the WHO, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations step up surveillance, protect frontline health workers and improve infection prevention and control, the UK Foreign Office said.
The UK Health Security Agency is assessing routes by which travellers enter the UK from affected countries and it has activated a program to protect and monitor the health of individuals travelling from the UK to affected areas for work.
($1 = 0.7444 pounds) (Reporting by Carlos Mendez in Mexico City; Editing by Chris Reese)
