A mysterious disease is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Yes, you read that right — there is a disease spreading, but no one knows what it precisely is.
Here’s what is known thus far about this unknown disease.
What the Mystery Disease in Congo is
On Sunday (8 December), the World Health Orgnisation (WHO) shared that between 24 October to 5 December, 406 cases of an undiganosed disease were recorded in the Panzi health zone in the DRC’s Kwango Province.
Of these 406 cases, 31 cases resulted in death.
So, what is this “disease” from the DRC? While we still don’t know the cause of the disease, what we do know so far are the disease’s symptoms and the people at risk.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, cough, runny nose and body aches — symptoms mirroring that of several other diseases.
People who seem to be at risk of the mystery disease include children and severely malnourished people.
According to the WHO, the majority of reported cases involved children, particularly those aged below five. All severe cases involved severely malnourished people.
MOH: Low Risk of Mystery Disease Spreading to Singapore
If you do experience any of the disease’s symptoms, don’t be too quick to jump to the conclusion that you’ve also caught the mystery disease from the DRC.
Especially if you haven’t even left your house in days… Go out and touch some grass lah.
On Tuesday (10 December), the Ministry of Health (MOH) shared that the risk of the mysterious DRC disease spreading to Singapore was low.
For that, you have the low travel volume and lack of direct flights between DRC and Singapore to thank.
But that’s not all the reasons why MOH thinks the risk of this mysterious disease spreading to Singapore is low. There’s one more reason which has to do with something that all you avid travellers are well-acquainted with.
It is none other than the SG Arrival Card (SGAC).
If you’ve travelled anytime in the past couple of years, you would remember that upon arrival in Singapore, you have to fill up the SGAC. The SGAC includes an electronic health declaration where symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath must be declared.
This is part of our little red dot’s ongoing border health measures to detect infectious diseases of concern.
The point is this — while there’s low risk of the mysterious disease spreading from the DRC to Singapore, there are still certain safeguards in place to ensure the disease can be detected if it does reaech Singapore.
And of course, MOH added that it will continue monitoring the situation and adjust their response measures according to the public health risk.
So, for now, there’s no need to rush out and stock up on toilet paper and instant noodles lah, hor?
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