BUNIA, Congo — The Ebola outbreak in Congo has claimed at least 999 lives, according to official data released late Tuesday. This outbreak, already labeled as the fastest in history, is further complicated by a strike among some health workers.
According to the latest report from Congo’s Ministry of Health, as of Monday, 2,473 cases have been confirmed, with 999 fatalities. The report also notes that at least 737 patients are currently in isolation within hospitals.
Declared on May 15, the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo virus, which lacks approved vaccines or treatments. It has resulted in more rapid fatalities than any previous outbreak, surpassing the 2013-2016 epidemic, which saw over 11,000 deaths from at least 28,000 cases. That prior outbreak took around eight months to reach 1,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has indicated that the actual number of cases could be two to four times higher than those documented, largely because most reported cases fall outside the monitored contacts. Additionally, some areas in the epicenter remain inaccessible due to rebel conflicts.
Ebola is rare but highly contagious, spreading through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it causes is severe and often lethal.
Officials have cautioned that 80% of new cases arise from unknown transmission chains, indicating that the outbreak is spreading more rapidly than health officials can trace. Efforts to curb the spread are ongoing in Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicenter, along with four other provinces where cases have been identified.
Resistance from local communities towards Ebola response teams, especially those conducting safe burials, has hindered efforts. Robert Ndjalonga, head of civil protection in Ituri province, reported that some communities have resisted burial teams in favor of traditional practices, raising the risk of further transmission.
“The major challenge is the resistance or outright refusal from some communities to accept response teams,” Ndjalonga stated. “Burial teams have occasionally needed security escorts to ensure safe and dignified burials are conducted without incident.”
Ndjalonga also mentioned that shortages of burial supplies have delayed responses to reported deaths, and some affected health zones still lack functional burial teams.
Attacks on health facilities and response teams have forced frontline workers and aid groups to withdraw from certain areas. Some health workers have gone on strike, protesting unpaid wages since the outbreak began.
Recently, a team member conducting safe Ebola burials was injured when their vehicle was attacked with stones while returning from a burial in Bunia, according to provincial civil protection authorities.
The attacks underscore the difficulties in managing the response in eastern Congo. In Ituri’s Irumu territory, the local military administrator recently highlighted Ebola as a greater threat than the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces insurgency, urging residents to support health workers.
At the Africa health summit in Ghana on Tuesday, Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized the need for intensified efforts to control the outbreak.
“If we do not stop this outbreak today, it could become one of the worst Ebola outbreaks the world has ever documented,” Kaseya stated.
Africa CDC reports that less than 9% of expected contacts from confirmed cases are currently being monitored, which is insufficient to contain the outbreak. Additionally, over 60% of deaths occur in the community before patients receive care.
Pierre Akilimali, the Ebola response incident manager at the National Public Health Institute of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, noted that the high number of community deaths indicates that many infections are not being detected or isolated timely, allowing the virus to continue spreading.
— Prosper Heri Ngorora and Constant Same Bagalwa
