The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than efforts to fight it, the head of the World Health Organization has warned, with nearly 4,000 confirmed cases so far. With five provinces known to be affected, authorities in Kinshasa are concerned about the deadly virus reaching the capital.
The outbreak is concentrated in eastern DRC, the opposite side of the country from Kinshasa and its population of more than 17 million.
Fears of potential spread led authorities to intercept a passenger boat travelling towards the capital on the Congo River this week after an alert about a suspected case on board, according to RFI's correspondent.
The boat, named Yingfeng 2, arrived at the port of Maluku on the outskirts of Kinshasa around midday on Wednesday with an estimated 200 passengers. It was met by a major containment operation, with medical teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health.
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The boat had sailed from northeastern Tshopo province, where a handful of Ebola cases have been confirmed so far. One passenger fell ill after disembarking in neighbouring Mongala province and was transferred to hospital, where he later died.
Doctors have not confirmed whether or not he had Ebola, but authorities placed the boat under surveillance as a precaution, DRC health minister Roger Kamba told RFI.
All passengers and crew were due to be tested for potential infection.
Outbreak outstrips response
The Ebola outbreak is now the largest in the DRC's history and the second biggest in the world. Declared in mid-May, it is spreading substantially faster than previous outbreaks.
The number of confirmed cases stands at 3,973, including 1,801 deaths, according to the latest government data.
"The outbreak is spreading faster than our scale-up of the response, with new cases doubling in some hotspots over the past week alone," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday during a visit to Kinshasa.
"We must urgently and massively scale up all our efforts," he added. "That means reaching every affected community despite insecurity and displacement, strengthening coordination under the government's leadership, ensuring health workers have the protection, training and support they need, and accelerating access to care, surveillance and safe, dignified burials."
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Tedros was due to meet President Felix Tshisekedi, a spokesman told AFP news agency on Wednesday, without giving further details.
The United States announced on Wednesday that it had allocated more than $242 million in additional funding to combat the worsening outbreak.
A new 100-bed Ebola treatment centre opened on Tuesday in Bunia, the main city in worst-hit Ituri province, the UN aid agency Ocha said.
Nearly 90 percent of confirmed cases have been identified in Ituri, the epicentre of the outbreak. Frontline workers there have gone on strike in recent weeks, claiming they have not been paid on time.
Dozens of health workers gathered outside Ebola treatment centres in Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu this week calling for immediate payment of salaries and government allowances.
In the mining town of Mongbwalu, protesters were later dispersed by police warning shots, according to hospital sources.
More health workers strike as Ebola cases in Congo near 3,000, including over 1,300 deaths
Progress on vaccines
Ebola is spread by contact with bodily fluids and causes a haemorrhagic fever. It has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the last 50 years.
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The current outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of the virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.
On Tuesday, Canada gave the go-ahead to US pharmaceutical giant Moderna to begin clinical trials of a candidate vaccine against Bundibugyo.
In late July, a volunteer received the first dose of another potential vaccine against Bundibugyo, developed by Britain's Oxford University using the same technology as the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Singapore-based Hilleman Laboratories is working on bringing a third potential Bundibugyo jab to human trials.
The WHO sees it as the "most promising" because it uses the same rVSV platform as the only officially licensed Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, which targets a different strain called Zaire.
Three potential treatments are currently being tested on confirmed Ebola patients in Ituri.
(with AFP)
