| Mon Jun 20, 2016
Democratic Republic of Congo declared a yellow fever epidemic in three provinces including the capital Kinshasa on Monday, after recording 67 cases of the disease.
Health Minister Felix Kabange said seven of the cases were autochthonous, while 58 were imported from Angola, where the outbreak began. Five people in total had died, he said. A further two cases came from remote forested areas not linked to the current outbreak.
"I declare today a localized epidemic of yellow fever in the provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo Central and Kwango," Kabange told a news conference.
Kinshasa is the main concern for global healthcare officials, because it has a densely packed population of more than 12 million and poor health infrastructure.
The global stockpile of yellow fever vaccines has already been depleted twice this year to immunize people in Angola, Uganda and Congo. It currently stands at 6 million doses but this may not be enough if there are simultaneous outbreaks in multiple highly populated areas.
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