The World Health Organization (WHO) is not raising its risk assessment for Ebola, despite the first case of the disease in France.
"The risk to the rest of the world remains low," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a Geneva press conference on Wednesday. "There is no need for panic."
Since the first known Ebola outbreak 50 years ago, tens of thousands of cases have occurred in Africa, but fewer than 30 cases in the rest of the world, said Tedros.
According to the Ministry of Health in Paris on Wednesday, the first case in France linked to the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been confirmed. The patient is a doctor who had been providing humanitarian aid in the country.
"This case is a reminder of the risks faced by frontline responders," said Tedros, adding that so far almost 80 medical volunteers have been infected.
The doctor is doing well given the circumstances; he has a fever and mild symptoms, the WHO said.
Tedros praised the rapid expansion of treatment capacity and Ebola testing in Congo, but he also listed a number of problems. "The outbreak continues to spread faster than the response measures," he said.
Contact tracing is still insufficient, ensuring hygienic burials for the dead remains a challenge, and there is a lack of funding to combat the disease. Added to this is the unstable security situation in the affected area.
Since the outbreak was announced in May, the number of confirmed cases in the Congo has risen to more than 1,000, according to the WHO, with more than 270 people having died.
Drug trials in the Congo are imminent
From next week, two potential drugs for treating illnesses caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus are to be tested in the Congo, the WHO has announced. These are the experimental Ebola drug MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir.
Around 1,000 patients who have tested positive are to take part in the trials. To date, there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain.
