Ebola: DR Congo Records Nearly 3,000 Deaths, Over 6,000 Cases

The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths in what authorities say is the country’s deadliest outbreak of the disease.

The latest figures were contained in the Congolese authorities’ update released on Monday.

The outbreak, which was declared in mid-May, has now surpassed the 2018-2020 epidemic, making it the deadliest Ebola outbreak recorded in the central African country.

The current outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.

It rapidly spread across six provinces in the DRC’s restive north and east, plagued by a plethora of armed groups fuelling long-running violence in the mineral-rich region.

According to Monday’s toll from the Congolese health authorities, 2,911 people have died, while 1,366 more have made a recovery out of the 6,041 cases confirmed since the epidemic began.

The response to the epidemic, already underfinanced, has struggled to keep up with the explosion in cases.

With the state having long been absent in many parts of the epidemic’s epicentre in the eastern DRC, health workers have also had to contend with the distrust of the authorities from some within the affected communities.

According to the Congolese health authorities, the Bundibugyo variant often causes apparently mild symptoms in its initial stage, which complicates detection.

Most of the DRC’s previous Ebola epidemics have been caused by the Zaire strain of the virus. Several vaccines and treatments are currently being tested to see if they are effective against the Bundibugyo strain.

AFP