In summary
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A Liberian Facebook blogger Yekeh Kolubah claimed that “Ebola has returned” following reports of a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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However, statements from Liberia’s Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) clarified that there were no suspected or confirmed Ebola cases in Liberia, although authorities were monitoring the situation closely.
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The World Health Organization also acknowledged that the outbreak was limited to the DRC, making the claim that Ebola had returned to Liberia misleading.
On May 16, Liberian Facebook blogger Yekeh Kolubah (not the former Representative for Montserrado County) published a post claiming that “Ebola has returned.” Although the post did not say the virus had returned to Liberia, the post quickly attracted over 4,000 reactions, including 1,600 comments.
Fact Check By: S. Matthew M. Quoi, Jr. | LMEP Fact Check Grant Fellow
The blog made this claim following reports of a new Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where dozens of deaths were reportedly recorded.
The Claim
In the post, the blog wrote: “Ebola has returned.”
Rating Justification
To verify the claim, we reviewed statements published by Liberia’s health authorities, including the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL).
In a press statement issued on Saturday, May 16, Liberia’s Ministry of Health clarified that there was no confirmed case of the Ebola virus disease in Liberia. The Ministry stated, however, that it was aware of the Ebola outbreak reported in Ituri Province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and was monitoring the situation closely.
Similarly, the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), in a statement released on May 16, informed the public that no suspected or confirmed Ebola case had been identified in Liberia. NPHIL added that the country had heightened surveillance measures in response to the outbreak in Congo.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also declared that the epidemic of Ebola Disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda was a public health emergency of international concern, noting that it was scaling up support to the countries.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that the claim that “Ebola has returned” to Liberia is misleading.
While a new Ebola outbreak was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is no confirmed Ebola case in Liberia at the time of the claim.
