From 19 to 25 February no new confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease EVD were reported This was the first time since the beginning of the response that no new confirmed cases were reported over a seven day period Figure 1 The most recent case was reported in Beni Health Zone North Kivu Province on 17 February While the lack of new confirmed cases reported in the last seven days is a major achievement the outbreak remains active and risk of additional cases emerging remains high In the past 21 days 5 to 25 February 2020 four confirmed cases were reported from two health areas in Beni Health Zone in North Kivu Province Figure 2 Table 1 Even with strengthened surveillance operations transmission of Ebola virus outside of groups currently under surveillance cannot be excluded Ebola virus also persists in some survivors body fluids with potential to infect others In at least one instance during this outbreak relapse in which a person who has recovered from EVD develops symptoms again was observed sparking a new chain of transmission which has taken several months to interrupt To mitigate a potential resurgence of the outbreak it is critical to maintain response capacities to rapidly detect and respond to any new cases and to prioritize survivor support and monitoring and the maintenance of cooperative relationships with the survivors associations Substantial surveillance pathogen detection and clinical management activities are currently ongoing including validating alerts following remaining contacts who were potentially exposed to the virus supporting rapid diagnostics of suspected cases and working with community members to strengthen surveillance on people who pass away in the communities As of 25 February 510 contacts are currently under surveillance of which 97 were followed daily in the last seven days In the last seven days more than 5100 alerts per day were reported and investigated of which over 400 alerts including 70 community deaths were validated as suspected EVD cases requiring laboratory testing and specialized care within the established Ebola treatment and transit centres On average suspect cases stay in these facilities for three days before EVD can be definitively ruled out i e after two negative polymerase chain reaction tests 48 hours apart while care is provided for their illness under isolation precautions Timely testing of suspected cases continues to be provided across 11 operational laboratories deployed in cities that have been affected by the outbreak From 17 to 23 February more than 3600 samples were tested