The World Health Organization (WHO) has escalated its risk assessment of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, now considering the threat level to be “very high” for the country. This announcement came on Friday as the situation intensified.
According to WHO officials, the outbreak is advancing at an alarming rate, with reports indicating nearly 750 suspected cases and 177 possible deaths. This is a significant increase from the 246 cases and 65 deaths recorded just a week prior.
“The situation is deeply concerning,” stated Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, highlighting the urgency of the crisis.
Complicating the response efforts, an incident occurred in Rwampara, Ituri province, on Thursday, where tents and medical supplies at a hospital were set ablaze. This violence erupted as healthcare workers attempted to establish an Ebola treatment center. The unrest was reportedly sparked by local residents’ frustration over being unable to retrieve the body of a man who died at the hospital. To curb the spread of the virus, it is essential to adhere to strict infection control measures for the burial of Ebola victims.
Dr. Tedros emphasized that “significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population” is hampering efforts to control the outbreak.
“Building trust within affected communities is crucial for an effective response and stands as one of our top priorities,” he added, underscoring the importance of community engagement in overcoming the crisis.
The WHO’s representative in the DRC, Dr Anne Ancia, said the incident in Rwampara would “significantly jeopardise” the response operation there.
The treatment centre that was attacked was designed to separate Ebola patients from others being treated in the same hospital. Ancia said she was hopeful that it would be able to be up and running again within 24 hours.
The outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which no vaccines or treatments exist. Most cases are in the DRC’s Ituri province, with a handful reported elsewhere in the country, and two in neighbouring Uganda.
Rising case numbers may paradoxically be a “good sign”, indicating better detection, officials said. A slight fall in the number of samples testing positive suggests more people with potential symptoms are being picked up.
However, Ancia said: “We are running behind, we are not yet under control.”
She was confident, however, that the response would be successful.
“I can guarantee you that together, we will manage to get over this outbreak as soon as we can,” she said.
While the WHO raised its risk assessment for the DRC, it maintained its earlier assessment that there was a high risk at the regional level and low risk at the global level.
Representatives of humanitarian organisations working in Ituri said they did not yet have enough resources to mount an adequate response.
Dr Amadou Bocoum, country director for Care International in the DRC, said aid cuts last year meant “the system was not able to work properly because of lack of equipment”, while lower staff levels also made the labour-intensive work of informing cases and contact tracing harder.
Julie Drouet, country director for Action Against Hunger, said: “Everyone is working to try to implement as quickly as possible … the response in the field, however it is not quite yet ready. It is not really yet up to the emergency that we have in Congo at the moment.”
A WHO press briefing also heard that scientists had identified an antiviral drug, obeldesivir, which may be able to prevent contacts of Bundibugyo cases developing the disease, and were working to establish trials in the affected areas.
