Since Thursday, January 22, all patients have been discharged from the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) isolation centre in Kampungu, in the province of Western Kasai, central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The patients no longer presented symptoms and were in good overall health.

Since the last confirmed Ebola patient died on January 1, all suspected patient's samples were analysed negative. Patients who were brought in the isolation centre stopped presenting symptoms after a few days with no casualties. The three patients who were admitted last week were also discharged as their tests came back negative.

"We can say that for now the outbreak is under control," said Rosa Crestani, from the MSF Emergency unit based in Brussels. "Until yesterday, MSF teams were still monitoring around 100 ‘contact people’ to prevent further possible transmission of the disease. However, it has been 21 days since the last confirmed Ebola case, which is the longest incubation period known. This means that the contact people are not infected with the virus.

"On the other hand, one man who had been in the forest died yesterday and presented some symptoms that make him a suspect case," added Crestani. "The MSF teams are therefore on stand-by, the isolation centre remains open and they are ready to respond to new cases should they occur."

Samples from the deceased man have been taken and will be analysed over the weekend.

To date, 48 patients in total have shown symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Seven patients have been confirmed positive to the Ebola virus after sample analysis in laboratories. Of the seven confirmed cases, two have died. The 41 remaining patients are all “suspected cases”, of whom 12 have died.