Ebola outbreak in DR Congo exceeds 11,000 cases and 5,000 deaths
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Actualité.cd
The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has exceeded 11,000 cases and 5,000 deaths, while 400 to 500 new cases are still reported each week. Diagnostic and treatment capacity has increased, according to WHO and Congolese health authorities meeting in Bunia on 12 November.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has exceeded 11,000 cases and 5,000 deaths in six months, according to Dr Marie-Roseline Bélazaire, director of health emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa. Around 400 to 500 new cases are still reported each week, she said at a press conference held on Thursday 12 November in Bunia.
Diagnostic capacity has increased from two laboratories to more than two dozen, with the capacity to process 500 to 600 samples per day. Around 2,000 beds are available in 109 transit and treatment centres, while nearly 3,000 people have recovered and ten clinics in Bunia and Beni provide follow-up care for survivors, according to response officials.
Transmission remains active in southern Ituri and northern North Kivu, particularly in Mambasa and Beni, as well as along the Wamba-Bolébolé axis towards Bafwasende, said Dr Steeve Ahuka, incident manager for the Ebola response in DR Congo. Tshopo has recorded more than 42 days without a case and some areas of Bas-Uele more than 30 days without a case.
The health officials cited in Bunia called for stronger infection prevention and control in health facilities, epidemiological surveillance and community participation. They reported shortcomings in some facilities, particularly private ones, as well as community resistance that is complicating interventions. The announcement comes after the tally of 10,668 cases and 5,198 deaths published on 8 November and after the outbreak was described as the largest in DR Congo’s history on 7 November.
