France records first Ebola import case linked to DRC outbreak

France recorded its first domestic confirmed Ebola case this Wednesday, according to the French Health Ministry and local newspaper Le Parisien. The infected individual is a doctor who just came back from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), marking the nation's first Ebola infection tied to the ongoing DRC outbreak.

The patient was transferred to a dedicated isolation medical unit and is currently in stable condition. French health authorities tracked down five passengers who sat next to the doctor on the return flight and placed them in isolation. The government emphasized that the overall infection risk to the general European public remains low.

The DRC's current Ebola outbreak was officially declared on May 15, with 1,094 confirmed cases and 277 fatalities logged so far. The DRC's Ebola outbreak is linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the public not to panic at a press briefing. He pointed out that fewer than 30 Ebola cases have been detected outside Africa over the past half-century, indicating a limited risk of cross-continental spillover.