Number of suspected Ebola cases in DR Congo passes 900 as health workers face attacks and shortages | Ebola

Congolese authorities say that suspected Ebola cases have now exceeded 900 in the ongoing epidemic in the east of the country.

Congo’s Ministry of Communications said in a post on X on Sunday that there were 904 suspected cases and 119 suspicious deaths.

Authorities had previously announced more than 700 suspected Ebola cases and more than 170 suspicious deaths, most of them in Ituri province, where the epidemic was concentrated.

The World Health Organization said the outbreak currently poses a “very high” risk to the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

Health authorities in the country face serious challenges trying to stop the epidemic, which has been declared a global health emergency.

There were arson attacks on Ebola treatment centers in the east of the country; Two centers in two towns were hit last week, unleashing anger in a region beset by violence linked to armed rebel groups, the displacement of scores of people, the failure of local government and international aid cuts that experts say have disabled health facilities in vulnerable communities.

Colin Thomas-Jensen, impact director of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, said the attacks may reflect the “deep-seated skepticism and anger” of people in eastern Congo about how the region has been treated due to years of violence from foreign-linked rebel groups and the failure of their governments and international peacekeepers to protect them.

Another source of anger has been authorities’ strict protocols for the burial of suspected Ebola victims wherever possible to prevent further spread of the disease during traditional funeral ceremonies, where families prepare bodies and people gather for burial.

According to witnesses and police, an Ebola center in Rwampara was first burned down by a group of youths trying to take the body of a friend. Witnesses said the crowd accused the foreign aid group operating there of lying about Ebola.

Authorities in northeastern Congo have now banned funerals and gatherings of more than 50 people, and armed soldiers and police guard some funerals carried out by aid workers.

Eastern Congo has been the scene of attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups for years; Some of these have links to foreign countries or the Islamic State extremist group.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels control parts of the region. The Congolese government still largely controls the northeastern Ituri province, the center of the Ebola outbreak, but its control is tenuous. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group affiliated with ISIS, is one of the dominant rebel groups in the region and is responsible for violent attacks on civilian targets.

In its assessment before the outbreak, Médecins Sans Frontières said insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee, leaving health facilities overwhelmed and “catastrophic conditions” in some areas.

The UN humanitarian office says almost 1 million people have been displaced from their homes by the fighting in Ituri.

Gabriela Arenas, regional coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said this meant the Ebola outbreak was “emerging in communities that were already facing insecurity, displacement and fragile health systems.”

There are fears the disease could spread to large refugee camps near the city of Bunia, where the first cases were reported.

Health experts say international aid cuts by the United States and other rich countries last year were devastating for eastern Congo because of its many problems.

Thomas McHale, public health director for Physicians for Human Rights, said the cuts “reduce the capacity to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.” There have been more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks in Congo before.

Aid groups fighting this outbreak on the ground say they lack the equipment they need to protect healthcare workers from infection, such as face shields and coveralls, testing kits, body bags and other supplies needed to safely bury the bodies of the dead, which can be highly contagious.

“We have made requests from different partners, but we have not received anything yet,” said Julienne Lusenge, head of Women’s Solidarity for Inclusive Peace and Development, an aid group that runs a small hospital near Bunia.

“We only have hand sanitizer and a few masks for the nurses,” she said.

There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo type Ebola virus responsible for the epidemic.