No doubt, as to North and South Kivu, and Ituri — obviously — this mass gathering ban makes solid public health sense, since there are certainly now over 300 “missing” cases of Ebola positives, roaming the countryside in the far Eastern regions.

I am not so sure about Bas Uele, and certainly more than a bit skeptical… about the capital city of Kinshasa — on the opposite end of the nation (~1,000 miles from Ituri). See my remarks after the pull quote, for context.

In any event — here is the latest, from Reuters reporting:

…The order, issued on June 27 by the interior minister, covers Kinshasa, Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele provinces, none of which has recorded cases so far.

It ⁠cited proximity to affected provinces as a key transmission risk, and required authorities in the four provinces to monitor anyone presenting symptoms and submit daily surveillance reports.

The outbreak, declared on May 15, has infected 1,274 people and killed 360 across three eastern provinces, Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, according to government data released on Monday….

There is — to be fair — some concern that this is political, as the current Administration there seeks a Constitutional amendment, to allow its president a THIRD consecutive elected term. [Gee, who does that remind us of?!]

And stopping rallies in the capital city of Kinshasa (with ~18 million voting souls) would mightily aid that effort, in entrenchment of power. Hmmmm… and there have been no cases, this time around, in Kinshasa. Hmmm, indeed. Onward.

नमस्ते