The World Health Organization has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is outpacing response efforts, with neighbouring countries at high risk from the disease.
WHO Director-General Urges Immediate Action
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, stated: "We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us." He urged neighbouring countries to take immediate action during an online meeting with the African Union. Tedros announced 220 suspected deaths so far in the current outbreak and confirmed he would travel to the DRC on Tuesday with Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of WHO's health emergencies programme.
Attacks on Health Facilities Hamper Response
Attacks by residents on health facilities in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, have severely hampered response efforts. On Saturday and Sunday, residents of Mongbwalu town attacked the Mongbwalu general referral hospital. Dr Richard Lokodu, medical director, reported that 18 Ebola patients fled on Saturday after unidentified individuals burned tents erected by Médecins Sans Frontières where patients were isolated. On Sunday, four waves of attacks occurred, mobilised by relatives of a religious leader who died of Ebola. Seven more patients escaped, and Congolese police and soldiers intervened to restore order. A suspected patient in critical condition with haemorrhaging died during the second attack while trying to flee.
Lokodu added that perpetrators wanted bodies of Ebola victims released for burial. In a similar incident on Thursday, a crowd set fire to a treatment centre in Rwampara, near Bunia, after authorities refused to give them a victim's body for traditional burial. Bodies are highly contagious and handled by authorities for containment, but some families prefer traditional burials involving washing and touching the body, which has driven spread in previous outbreaks.
Outbreak Declared Public Health Emergency
Earlier this month, Tedros declared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" after over 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths in the DRC, plus two deaths in neighbouring Uganda. On Monday, Uganda announced two more Ebola cases, bringing the total to seven. Both are health workers in a private facility in Kampala, according to the health ministry.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. Hotspots include Rwampara, Mongbwalu, Nyankunde, and Bunia in Ituri province, a commercial and migration hub and gold-rich region where conflict between Hema and Lendu militias has killed over 50,000 people since 1999. Cases have also been reported in Butembo and rebel-controlled Goma in North Kivu, and Bukavu in South Kivu.
Tedros noted that containment is complicated by insecurity in Ituri and North Kivu and the lack of an approved vaccine.
Reuters contributed to this report.
