First Ebola patient in eastern Congo dies

The first Ebola patient in eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, has died, a government official said on Tuesday.

Carly Kasivita, the governor of North Kivu, told dpa, “our response teams took care of the case immediately, but unfortunately, I can confirm the death of the patient.’’

Eastern Congo has been in the midst of the second worst Ebola outbreak in history since last year.

The major city of Goma, confirmed for the first time a case of the highly infectious disease that causes a fever and often leads to massive internal bleeding and fatalities.

A Christian pastor who had been in the Ebola-affected town of Butembo to preach, and had placed hands on congregants at several churches there, was confirmed to have the virus, according to the Health Ministry.

World Health Organisation (WHO) teams started vaccinations against Ebola in Goma on Monday, focusing particularly on people who were on a bus with the pastor from Butembo to Goma.

So far more than 1,600 people have died from the virus in Congo.