The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed 4,000, with government figures showing that 4,018 people have died since the epidemic was declared.
According to figures released on Friday, confirmed Ebola cases have reached 8,300 across seven provinces as authorities continue efforts to contain the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.
Health officials face major challenges, including weak infrastructure, the remoteness of affected areas in eastern DRC and ongoing conflict involving armed groups near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.
The United Nations said an Ebola-hit camp containing a transit centre for patients was burned by soldiers earlier this week while they were searching for weapons near Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, the epicentre of the outbreak. The incident forced about 19,000 people to flee the camp.
The UN warned that the destruction of the transit centre has made efforts to control the epidemic even more difficult.
Mistrust and anger towards health workers and government authorities have also complicated the response. Days earlier, Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local official with the ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), was beaten at his home in Butembo, an Ebola hotspot in North Kivu Province, after participating in a radio programme to raise awareness about the outbreak. His house was later set on fire, and he died in hospital from his injuries.
The World Health Organization has warned that the epidemic is “far from over” and could eventually surpass the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola and has become the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in the history of the DRC, surpassing the country’s 2018–2020 outbreak.
Several treatments and vaccines are currently being tested against the Bundibugyo strain, but there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment specifically for it.
The outbreak, which is the DRC’s 17th Ebola epidemic, was officially declared on May 15 and has since spread rapidly.
More than 2,000 patients have recovered so far. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of confirmed cases appears to be declining, although the reduction may partly reflect insecurity and difficulties in gaining access to communities in some affected areas.
Tags
World News