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GENEVA / DRC EBOLA UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / DRC EBOLA UPDATE
TRT: 1:50
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 May 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, United Nations press room
3. Med shot, journalists
4. Close up, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, spokeperson for the World Health Organization (WHO):
“As of today, the Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of Congo reported 51 cases. Out of those 51, 28 are confirmed with the lab, 21 are considered probable and there are two suspect cases. The number of deaths is 27.”
6. Close up shot, journalist.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, spokeperson for the World Health Organization (WHO):
“So, the vaccination started yesterday in Mbandaka; 33 people received vaccines yesterday, they were health workers, but also a few people in two areas in the community in Mbandaka. We will continue to do vaccinations today. In Bikoro, our colleagues from MSF will be involved in vaccination. Hopefully, this will start later in a week or next week, once the preparations are done.”
8. Med shot, journalists.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, spokeperson for the World Health Organization (WHO):
“Getting in vaccines, getting in freezers, having enough fuel so these freezers can function in areas where you don’t really have electricity. You need to have vaccination teams to be trained, so they know exactly what they need to do, how to get a consent, how to define eligibility of a contact and contacts of contacts, so all of that must be done in a very short period of time.”
10. Close up shot, journalists
11. Med shot, journalists
12. Close up shot, journalists
An Ebola vaccination campaign is under way in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in one of two places where the deadly virus has been identified in the latest outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
To date, health authorities in the vast central African country have reported 51 cases of Ebola in Equateur province, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told journalists in Geneva.
He added that the UN health agency has shipped 7,540 vaccinations to DRC and that a total of 300,000 are available from pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Merck.
Jasarevic said “as of today, the Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of Congo reported 51 cases. Out of those 51, 28 are confirmed with the lab, 21 are considered probable and there are two suspect cases. The number of deaths is 27.”
The development comes 13 days after the disease was identified in a remote area of north-west DRC.
So far, the UN health agency has begun vaccinations in a hospital in Mbandaka, a city of around 1.5 million people, where conditions and facilities are sufficiently robust to ensure the safe storage of the Ebola vaccine.
WHO’s Tarik Jasarevic said that healthcare professionals and community workers were among the 33 people who received the inoculation on Monday in Mbandaka.
The campaign will continue on Tuesday, the WHO spokesperson explained, before adding that partner agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was preparing to do the same in and around the town of Bikoro to the south, where the current outbreak was identified originally.
He said “so, the vaccination started yesterday in Mbandaka; 33 people received vaccines yesterday, they were health workers, but also a few people in two areas in the community in Mbandaka. We will continue to do vaccinations today. In Bikoro, our colleagues from MSF will be involved in vaccination. Hopefully, this will start later in a week or next week, once the preparations are done.”
Jasarevic explained that access to Bikoro is much more difficult than Mbandaka, and that one of the main challenges is ensuring that the vaccines can be stored at up to minus 80 degrees Celsius.
WHO spokesperson said “getting in vaccines, getting in freezers, having enough fuel so these freezers can function in the area where you don’t really have electricity. You need to have vaccination teams to be trained, so they know exactly what they need to do, how to get a consent, how to define eligibility of a contact and contacts of contacts, so all of that has to be done in a very, very short period of time.”
The current outbreak is the ninth to happen in DRC since the virus was discovered in 1976; it was named after the Ebola river by the village where it was first discovered.
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