WHO Reports 277 Deaths in Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo

Kathmandu. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that 277 people have died in the Ebola outbreak declared on May 15 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with 1,094 cases of Ebola infection confirmed.

WHO's official statistics released on Tuesday show that 387 patients are currently receiving treatment and 115 have recovered. Congolese authorities have also reported 131 suspected cases, including 44 suspected deaths.

Congo's Ministry of Health, in its daily epidemic report, has shown an increase in confirmed infection cases on a weekly basis based on community transmission.

The statistics indicate that rapid public health measures, including decentralization of epidemiological and laboratory surveillance as well as diagnostic capacity, have contributed to earlier detection of the disease and confirmed expanded community infections.

Abdirahman Mahamud, director of WHO's "Health Emergency Alert and Response Operation", stated at a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday that this is the largest number of confirmed cases in the first month of an Ebola disease outbreak in Africa. 

Mahamud mentioned that the spread and expansion of the disease are happening at a rapid pace, and in the past two weeks, treatment capacity has also increased to be able to serve with more than 500 beds across 19 health zones.

He also stated that laboratory capacity has been rapidly expanded, and while initially testing about 30 people per day in the capital Kinshasa at the beginning of the outbreak, it is now possible to test more than two thousand people per day through a network of eight decentralized laboratories in the Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. 

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi announced on Tuesday that he would soon monitor the response operations in the Ituri province, which has a high outbreak. He made this comment while speaking at a joint press conference in Kinshasa with Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye.

Before the press conference, the two leaders were briefed on the epidemic situation and response measures in Congo during a meeting with the national Ebola response task force of the Central African country.

To control the Ebola outbreak, Tshisekedi has also called for strong regional cooperation based on prevention, epidemiological surveillance, and rapid information sharing.

Ndayishimiye has also urged African countries and the broader international community not to close borders. Similarly, the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health show that in Uganda, which borders the DRC and accounts for about 90 percent of infections, 20 people have been confirmed with Ebola infection, 14 have recovered, and two have died.

According to the ministry, 15 of the reported infection cases are imported cases. On Tuesday, Uganda and the DRC also announced the start of cross-border cooperation, which includes joint deployment of surveillance and rapid response teams, mobile laboratories, and Ebola treatment centers to combat the Ebola outbreak.

According to WHO statistics released last Friday, the health risk associated with Ebola in Congo is high due to the continued expansion of the outbreak into new health zones, increasing the possibility of further national and regional spread.

Meanwhile, the risk in Uganda is also considered high due to imported cases and cross-border spread through epidemiological links along the eastern Congo and western Uganda corridor.