Congo’s Ebola outbreak has passed 11,000 cases, the government said on Wednesday, with 5,387 deaths recorded in what has become the deadliest outbreak in the country’s history. Health ministry data put the total at 11,042 people infected, and nearly half of those who caught the virus have died.
The Ebola outbreak was reported on 15 May and declared soon after, and the World Health Organization called it a public health emergency of international concern two days later. In the six months since then, Congolese authorities have struggled to contain it, and the latest figures show the virus still spreading through the east of the country and beyond. The 5,387 deaths are the cumulative toll for the whole outbreak, not a count from one reporting period, and the figures came in the health ministry’s latest update.
Ebola outbreak reaches eight provinces
The Bundibugyo virus behind the Ebola outbreak has no known vaccine or treatment. The strain, first found in 2007, kills about half of the people it infects, and no vaccine or treatment has been developed for it. Ebola causes severe hemorrhagic fever and has caused periodic outbreaks in Central and West Africa.
The virus has now spread to eight of Congo’s 26 provinces, far beyond the area where it was first detected. Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba has named North Kivu as the main site of new transmission. The province, in the east of the country, is one of two main hotspots, along with Ituri, and fighting there has made it hard for health teams to reach the sick.
Several factors have slowed the response. Armed conflicts have cut off some areas, the health system is in crisis, roads are poor, and violence from residents has been fuelled by mistrust and misinformation about the disease. Delayed detection added to the problem, and together these factors have let the virus spread faster than in earlier outbreaks.
Ebola outbreak and attacks on health workers
The resurgence of violence in Ituri and North Kivu has raised concern among health authorities, who have called for a halt to the fighting so health workers can reach the sick without hindrance. Several deaths have been reported outside treatment centres, which points to patients who never reached care.
Health facilities and medical staff have also been targeted by people in communities who doubt the virus is real, and several attacks on health workers have been reported. The threats have added to the strain on teams working in areas where the virus is spreading, and health authorities have asked for a halt to the fighting to give those teams access to the sick.
Containing the Ebola outbreak has also been complicated by its spread beyond Congo’s borders. Cases have been reported in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, across East, Central and West Africa, giving the outbreak the widest geographic reach of any Ebola outbreak on the continent so far.
Ebola outbreak ranks second in size
Dozens of Ebola outbreaks have been reported since the disease was first found in 1976. The largest and deadliest was in West Africa in 2014 to 2016, with more than 28,600 infections and more than 11,000 deaths.
The current outbreak ranks second in size and second in deaths. In the roughly six months since it was declared, it has recorded about three times as many cases and deaths as the West Africa outbreak had over a comparable span. The current outbreak is the 17th recorded in Congo, and the deadliest the country has faced. Earlier outbreaks were smaller, and none before this one had spread so far or killed so many in the country.
The World Health Organization approved clinical trials of two new Ebola vaccines earlier this month and expects results in early 2027, Al Jazeera reported. The death toll of 5,387 from 11,042 cases gives a fatality rate of close to half, and the virus is now present in eight of the country’s 26 provinces.