Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
11 February 2023 | 11:15 CAT

Equatorial Guinea has quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement after 8 people died of an unknown illness causing hemorrhagic fever.

Picture: The Green Lab

This was confirmed by the country’s Health Minister Mitoha Ondo’o Ayekaba as government races to test samples.

According to Ayekaba, the outbreak was reported on 7 February with preliminary investigations indicating that the deaths were linked to people who all took part in a funeral ceremony. Adding that the government has sent samples to neighbouring Gabon and Dakar in Senegal for further testing.

The symptoms of the “non-identified illness” are nose bleeds, fever and joint pain that caused death within a few hours, said the head of health for the district, gNu Fankam Roland in a statement.

Meanwhile, authorities have restricted movement around the two villages that are directly linked with 200 people quarantined.

“We are trying to quickly as possible rule out the known hemorrhagic fevers we know in the region such as Lassa or Ebola,” Ayekaba told Reuters by telephone.

Equatorial Guinea’s neighbour Cameroon announced on Friday that it has restricted movement along its border after the “unexplained deaths”.

A World Health Organisation spokesperson said the agency was supporting the testing of samples to identify the cause of the deaths and should have results within days.