WHO officer summoned over claims of Ebola in Tanzania

An official from the World Health Organisation has been summoned to explain claims of Ebola in Tanzania.

According to Reuters, Tigest Ketsela Mengestu was summoned to the Tanzania Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday.

“The government has summoned the representative of the World Health Organization in the country to seek in-depth details from the agency on reports circulating in the media,” Hassan Abbasi, the government spokesman said on Twitter.

He later revealed that the meeting had established that the reports of Ebola in Tanzania were unsubstantial.

The Tanzanian official further added that they had agreed that any information regarding health in the country would adhere to proper government channels.

Earlier reports had indicated that the government was allegedly not sharing information despited three suspected cases of Ebola in Tanzania.

In a statement released over the weekend, WHO said a patient who had travelled to Uganda–which borders the DRC–had returned to Tanzania and died on September 8.

The BBC reported that the patient had showed Ebola-like symptoms in August and her contacts had been quarantined but the government refuted the claims.

“US Health Secretary Alex Azar criticised Tanzania for its failure to share information on possible cases,” the BBC report said adding that there have been over 2000 deaths from Ebola cases in the DRC.