The United Nations said on Friday that the Ebola virus is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at an accelerating rate after killing more than 2,500 people, calling for more aid and warning that the funding currently allocated will run out within weeks.
Julian Harness, the main UN coordinator on Ebola, said during a press conference from the city of Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that the virus has caused the death of more than 2,500 people in the republic, and continues to spread at an accelerated pace.
He warned that the number of deaths is rising daily, and that half of the deaths were recorded in the past twenty days.
Harness continued, “Its spread exceeds the ability of our efforts to combat it. It is intensifying and expanding at a faster pace than the efforts made throughout the region, which has been exhausted by a conflict that has lasted for three decades, which exacerbates humanitarian needs.”
Public order is threatened
The UN official warned that public order had become threatened, and that basic services, especially health care, had become fragmented, indicating that the conditions for intervention were extremely difficult, and that a large number of armed groups were active in areas affected by the virus, making it difficult to reach the population.
Harness also pointed out that 43 health workers had died out of 160 who were infected with the virus, while others were targeted in attacks on ambulances or health facilities by local residents angry and terrified by the outbreak of the disease.
The UN official counted more than 260 attacks targeting health workers during the past 6 months, resulting in the deaths of 8 of them, pointing out that the reduction in aid over the past few years has reduced the capacity of humanitarian organizations.
Other aid workers said that some local residents believed conspiracy theories claiming that the outbreak was a hoax, and were very angry when health restrictions prevented them from burying their dead themselves.
Chances of eliminating the virus
But Harness expressed his optimism that the virus would be eliminated through intensified efforts, saying, “If we increase the number of employees and provide more resources to the remote areas of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, within a few months we will be able to slow the transmission of infection, and even eliminate it completely.”
In this context, the International President of Doctors Without Borders, Javid Abdel Moneim, said in a statement issued in Geneva, “This virus is still spreading at a rate that efforts are unable to confront it,” adding, “This response requires much more than simply providing more hospital beds: improving testing, safely isolating the infected and their contacts, and supporting health care workers.”
Within just 3 months, Ebola – whose outbreak was announced on May 15 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – surpassed the wave that affected the country during the 2018-2020 period and was then considered the most deadly in its history after it claimed 2,299 people out of 3,381 confirmed cases, according to World Health Organization figures based on data from the Congolese authorities.
In 3 months, 7 times more infections were recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 5 times more deaths, compared to the first 3 months of the largest Ebola outbreak.
The virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain known as Bundibugyo responsible for the current outbreak, but clinical trials are continuing.