Rwanda will officially declare the end of the Marburg Virus Disease outbreak on Friday, December 20.
An outbreak can be considered over if no new infections are reported for 42 days — equivalent to two incubation periods for the virus — after the last case is identified, according to the scientific journal Nature.
The Ministry of Health has not reported any new cases since October 31. As of the last update from the ministry, covering the period from November 29 to December 6, 35 days had passed without a new case and it was then 29 days since the last patient was discharged. It is now 47 days without a new case, and 41 days since the last patient was discharged, as of December 18.
Rwanda confirmed its first-ever outbreak of the Marburg virus on September 27. The disease claimed 15 human lives. No other deaths have been recorded since October 15.
Rwanda recorded the lowest fatality rate in the history of Marburg virus outbreaks, with 22.7 percent of patients dying from the disease, compared to fatality rates of up to 88 percent in previous outbreaks.
The Ministry of Health also noted that this outbreak was the third largest recorded globally.
