Just as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) gets back on its feet after a long and difficult struggle with Ebola, the spread of Covid-19 is presenting new challenges. 

There have so far been 215 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the DRC, with 20 fatalities.  

At the same time, its fight against Ebola sufferered a disappointing setback when another case was confirmed on Friday. 

The first recorded case of Ebola in 52 days was identified in a 26-year-old in Beni, eastern DRC, just days before the country was to reach a deadline that would have allowed it to officially declare the epidemic over. 

Ebola killed some 2,000 people in the country.  Now with coronavirus gaining ground, Tearfund is racing to increase access to clean water and share information with communities about how they can stop the latest threat. 

Tearfund fears an impending "catastrophe" in the country if coronavirus takes off as it has done in other parts of the world, like Europe and North America. 

Tearfund's Country Director in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hebdavi Muhindo, said that many people were facing a difficult choice between dying of Covid-19 and dying of hunger.

"The restrictions placed on everyday life in our efforts to practice social distancing recommendations mean that COVID-19 could pose an even greater danger than the recent Ebola outbreak we have just endured," he said. 

"Most people live on less than a dollar a day. Even if you could afford to bulk buy, it's not common to have a fridge to keep food fresh during isolation. People have to go out each day to buy food for that day. People are afraid that if they don't die of COVID-19, they will die of hunger." 

The state of the country's health service is another challenge. Mr Muhindo said that the DRC's health centres are simply "not ready" for coronavirus and do not have the necessary equipment to save lives. 

"Our best chance is firstly, to work together with local authorities, faith leaders and healthcare providers to educate the community, and secondly, do whatever we can to ensure people have clean water and soap for handwashing so that they have the means to follow guidance issued," he said. 

In a country where water is a precious resource, regular handwashing is more challenging than it sounds. In the DRC, women still have to walk for hours each day just to collect water, so the decision over what to use it for is not so straightforward.

"Water is heavy to carry and most would prefer to use it to cook food to feed their families," Mr Muhindo said.

"Tearfund's work providing safe, clean and accessible water nearer to homes is more important than ever. We are working hard to improve access to water in rural areas and alongside offering our usual education about basic hygiene we are informing people about how to avoid the spread of COVID-19 as well."

The Bishop Milenga Mbala, the president of the platform of evangelical churches in North-Kivu, a Tearfund partner, said it was important to continue sharing a message of hope in the face of the fresh threat from coronavirus.

"COVID-19 is impacting us all. Everyone must comply with the preventative measures to stop the virus and the church is no exception," he said.

"At the same time, we need to keep faith in Jesus who calls us to love our neighbours - both local and global - and be Christian witnesses in our communities encouraging one another to have hope in the knowledge that nothing lasts forever and nothing is impossible to God."