France has reported its first confirmed Ebola case linked to the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a doctor who recently returned from a humanitarian mission tested positive for the virus.
The French health ministry said Wednesday the patient had been placed in isolation, while authorities began tracing people who may have come into contact with him. Officials said the risk to the wider European population remains low.
Health Minister Stephanie Rist told France 2 that five people who had been seated close to the doctor on the flight back to France had been identified and isolated as a precaution.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged against panic, saying the risk of wider international spread remains limited.
“In the past 50 years, fewer than 30 Ebola cases have been detected outside Africa,” Tedros told reporters, adding that France and other European countries should avoid overreacting.
The outbreak in Congo has been linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. According to the WHO, more than 1,000 infections and 267 deaths have been recorded, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak by confirmed cases in its first month.
Health experts believe the virus may have been spreading for months before the outbreak was officially declared on May 15. Early confirmed cases were detected in urban areas, with infections later reported in at least three densely populated displacement camps.
The two deadliest Ebola outbreaks were recorded in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and in Congo in 2018.
A U.S. citizen who had been treated for Ebola in Germany was discharged earlier this month after tests showed no detectable virus since May 30.