A bizarre, new virus raging over Africa has killed 179 people and counting, with youths making up the majority of the casualties, according to authorities.
Since November 10, at least 300 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been afflicted with the unnamed sickness, which causes flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches, coughing, breathing difficulties, and anaemia, according to the health ministry.
According to police, the majority of those who died were between the ages of 16 and 18.
The government has despatched a medical team to Kwango Province, where the sickness is most prevalent, to study the unusual epidemic, according to Reuters.
The administration has asked individuals to be calm, but Cephorien Manzanza, a civil society leader, told Reuters that the increased number of instances is extremely concerning.
“Panzi is a rural health zone, so there is a problem with the supply of medicines,” he stated, referring to the most severely affected village.
The epidemic occurs immediately before the fifth anniversary of the first known COVID-19 case in Wuhan, China.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a hotbed for severe diseases like ebola and, more recently, mpox, which affected at least 14,500 people between January and July of this year, according to the BBC.