An Ebola treatment tent set ablaze again in eastern Congo with 18 suspected cases escaping
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — A tent used to treat the Ebola outbreak has been set up in eastern Congo was set on fire for the second time A local hospital director said on Saturday that 18 people with suspected infections had escaped this week.
Mongbwalu General Reference Hospital director Dr. Richard Lokudi told The Associated Press that unidentified people came to the clinic in the town of Mongbwalu, at the center of the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, on Friday night and set fire to the tent set up by the Doctors Without Borders charity for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases.
“We strongly condemn this action as it caused panic among the staff of Mongbwalu Referral Hospital and also caused 18 suspected cases to escape into the community,” he said.
On Thursday, another treatment center in Rwampara town was burnt down after family members were banned from collecting the body of a local man.
The bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious, causing it to spread further when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous business of burying suspected victims is carried out by authorities wherever possible, which can be met with protests from families and friends.
In Bunia, another town in the outbreak area, a funeral for Ebola patients was held under high security on Saturday as tensions rose between health workers and local residents.
Authorities in northeastern Congo on Friday banned funeral prayers and gatherings of more than 50 people to prevent the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization said the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk to Congo, down from its previous “high” category, but the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that 82 cases and seven deaths had been confirmed in Congo, but the outbreak was believed to be “much larger.”
There is no vaccine yet available against Bundibugyo virus. spread unnoticed for weeks After the first known death in Congo’s Ituri province, authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus, and the result came back negative. There are currently 750 suspected cases and 177 suspicious deaths, but the number is expected to increase as surveillance expands.
Dr. director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jean Kaseya said the response to the pandemic must include building trust in communities.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died due to the outbreak in Mongbwalu. The agency said it believes the three healthcare workers contracted the virus while conducting corpse management activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola.
This will push back significantly timeline It was stated that the epidemic resulted from the first death confirmed in the town of Bunia, the capital of Ituri, in late April.
——-
McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal.
