COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country on March 10th, 2020. The pandemic arrived in a country that was simultaneously battling its 10th Ebola outbreak, Yellow fever, and ongoing conflict. In other to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 with a health system already under severe pressure from other infectious diseases, the national government declared a state of health emergency, and a nationwide lockdown. Although these measures were instituted to mitigate the outbreak and help maintain an overburdened health system, it also contributed to an increase in anxiety, fear of economic down-turn and a worsening precarious situation, creating a confluence of disaster, conflict and disease. Using both qualitative and secondary sources for data gathering, this study analyses all factors involved in understanding conflict, disease and disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo by analyzing government responses, top down measures and external interventions, revealing issues of police brutality, human rights and gender inequality. The study also discovered disaster coping mechanism employed by people living in the Kivu’s and how these coping mechanisms are helping to maintain hope and mental sanity in a precarious conflict state.