Ebola: 67 health workers dead and 427 infected in DR Congo
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Agência de Informação de Moçambique
At least 67 health workers have died and 427 have been infected by the Ebola virus in DR Congo, according to Africa CDC. The outbreak has already more than doubled the size of the largest previous one for the same period, and the organisation says the situation is still out of control, with 400 to 550 new cases a week.
At least 67 health workers have died and 427 have been infected by the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which released these figures at a press conference this week. The outbreak has exceeded twice the size of the largest previous one recorded for the same period.
At 174 days since the outbreak began, Africa CDC counts 10,699 cases and 5,202 deaths in the affected countries, compared with 5,357 cases and 2,630 deaths at the same stage of the 2014 epidemic in West Africa. In the DRC, the disease has reached 67 health zones in eight provinces. Wessam Mankoula, head of the continental response team, believes the outbreak is not under control, with 400 to 550 new cases a week.
Africa CDC says the DRC needed to identify more than 640,000 contacts of infected people, but only 137,565 have been registered, or 21.4% of the target. More than 85% of new cases are detected outside known contact lists. About 63% of victims die in their communities, outside health facilities. Yap Boum II, deputy head of incident management at the organisation, called for stronger protection of health workers in public and private facilities alike.
This toll adds to a series of health worker deaths: on 31 October, two young doctors died within 48 hours in the DRC, and on 7 November, a nurse died in Beni, North Kivu.
