Health workers at an Ebola treatment center in eastern Congo went on strike Saturday over payment issues, disrupting care for patients in the epicenter of the country's rapidly growing outbreak.
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached 2,973, including 1,309 deaths, according to government data released on Friday, in what authorities describe as the fastest-growing outbreak on record.
Activities at the Elikya Ebola Treatment Centre in Bunia, in Ituri province, were largely paralysed after doctors, nurses and security staff stopped work.
Around 100 health workers protested outside the treatment centre on Saturday. They said unpaid bonuses were undermining morale and disrupting patient care, and called on the Congolese authorities to settle the arrears so they could resume their work.
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In a statement issued on Friday, staff said they had unanimously voted to strike from Saturday until "concrete solutions" were found to resolve "two months of unpaid performance bonuses".
Ebola outbreak spreads in DRC as misinformation hampers response
Last week, health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest medical centre, went on strike over unpaid salaries. Some told the Associated Press they had not received any payment since starting work at the onset of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.
The Central African country has been battling the Ebola outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, since 15 May. A total of 766 patients remain in isolation or in hospital, while 540 have recovered so far, according to data from Congo's Ministry of Health.
The eastern province of Ituri accounts for nearly 90 per cent of confirmed cases.
The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track, despite an expanding response.
A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak's index case, while displacement caused by armed conflict and mining-related movements has made it difficult to trace thousands who have come into contact with infected individuals.
DRC's Ebola outbreak kills more than 1,000, with children hit hardest
The response is being hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centres, ongoing conflict in eastern Congo and mistrust among local communities.
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Response efforts have also been complicated by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire strain, for which a vaccine exists and which was responsible for most of Congo's previous 16 outbreaks of the disease.
Enrolment in a highly anticipated study of two potential Ebola treatments has recently begun in Ituri.
The WHO says the global risk of the outbreak spreading beyond Central Africa remains low, noting that Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person rather than through the air, making it far less transmissible than respiratory viruses.
(with newswires)
