Ebola Cases in Eastern Congo Surpass 1,000 as Response Struggles
The Ebola outbreak in Congo's Ituri province has confirmed 1,003 cases and 254 deaths, with contact tracing covering just over half of identified contacts.
Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that confirmed Ebola cases have risen to 1,003, including 254 fatalities, while 100 patients have recovered. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, remains concentrated in Ituri province, where at least 365 patients are currently in hospitals or isolation units.
Contact tracing efforts have reached only about 55% of the more than 35,000 people identified as having been exposed to infected individuals, according to the Ministry of Health.
"If you want to control an outbreak, especially Ebola outbreak, you must know the index case. We don’t have confidence on when this outbreak started," said Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The region's security challenges, including attacks by rebel groups, have hampered access to villages and displaced populations. At the Kigonze displacement camp in Bunia, officials noted ten unexplained deaths in a week, prompting concerns about a possible spread among the camp's 20,000 residents, though no Ebola case has been confirmed there.
The United Nations refugee agency warned that more than 2 million displaced persons, including over 320,000 refugees, live in areas at risk of Ebola, expressing deep concern over the virus's accelerating spread and the heightened danger to displaced communities.
