DR Congo Ebola outbreak passes 8,000 cases and 4,000 deaths; ruling-party official killed

Right · 2The Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, has passed 8,000 confirmed cases and 4,000 deaths. 1 2 Right · 2Breitbart, citing the WHO, reported 8,067 confirmed cases and 3,901 deaths (about 48 percent) as of Monday 28 September. Arab News, carrying AP, reported that the health ministry's figures released on Thursday 1 October showed 4,018 deaths among 8,300 confirmed cases, in what AP called the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. 1 2 Right · 2Congo announced the outbreak on May 15. The WHO confirmed it in May, and its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited Ituri province by the end of that month. 2 1

Right · 2AP reports that the Bundibugyo virus has no known treatment or vaccine. Breitbart says the strain is less common than the Zaire and Sudan strains, for which treatments and potential vaccines exist. 2 1 Right · 2Ituri remains the epicentre, but Breitbart says cases in neighbouring North Kivu are reportedly rising rapidly. AP says the WHO has raised the alarm over spread into new health zones, stretching limited resources. 1 2 Right · 2Marie-Célestin Karondwa, an official of Congo's ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party, was beaten to death on Sunday 27 September. Breitbart says he was attacked after urging people on local radio to take precautions and that those responsible have not been identified. AP says he was attacked for defending government measures, at his home in Butembo, North Kivu. His house was set on fire and he died in hospital. 1 2

Left · 3The UN said soldiers burned an Ebola-hit displacement camp housing a transit centre for infected patients earlier in the week, while searching for weapons in Kigonze on the outskirts of Bunia, forcing 19,000 people to flee. Julien Harneis, the UN senior Ebola coordinator, said: "When we lose a center, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment, and we have to start again." 3 4 5 Left · 3Health workers in Bunia, including surveillance team members, protested over unpaid wages with placards reading "No money, no data!" CBS and CBC say officials quickly dispersed them. AP quotes protester Biongi Beiza as saying some had not been paid for August and September, and notes that front-line workers have struck several times since the outbreak began. 3 6 4 Left · 2An aid worker with Médecins Sans Frontières was infected with Ebola and flown to the Netherlands for treatment in a high-level isolation unit at Leiden University Medical Center. More than 50 health workers have died after contracting the virus, and MSF called the human cost "unprecedented in the DRC". 4 6

Mixed · 2Weekly confirmed cases fell from around 850 cases and 470 deaths in mid-July to an average of 490 cases and 230 deaths in September, according to AP and CBC. Spread has slowed in some areas but accelerated in others. More than 2,000 patients have recovered. 3 7 Mixed · 2The outbreak has reached seven provinces; South Ubangi, in the northwest, became the seventh in September after a man who had travelled from eastern Congo died. Reuters says it is the largest and deadliest in Congo, having passed the 2018-2020 epidemic, and second only to West Africa's 2014-2016 outbreak, which infected over 28,600 people and killed more than 11,000. The WHO says the current outbreak is on track to exceed that toll and is "far from over". 7 5 Centre · 1In AP's reporting from Butembo, mobile laboratories cut test turnaround from 72 hours to six, according to Dr. Lota Kalubi, and make hard-to-reach locations easier to cover. 3

Right · 1Separately, the AFC/M23 rebel group, which controls large parts of North and South Kivu, said on Friday it had recorded six new Ebola cases in Kayna and Alimbongo health zones, near Lubero. It said they belong to one transmission chain from a case in government-held Butembo, and four were found by post-mortem testing. The group had declared its areas Ebola-free in late June; a patient confirmed in early September was discharged on Tuesday. 8 Right · 2Both outlets attribute resistance to widespread mistrust and the belief among some residents that Ebola is a hoax. AP adds that there is deep distrust of the government over past outbreaks and chronic corruption, and that authorities launched a village-centred approach last month. Breitbart says traditional burials have spread the disease and that urging safe burials has amplified local outrage against health workers. 2 1 Right · 1Breitbart reports that conflict and displacement are hampering contact tracing. The UN says more than 1.1 million people are displaced in Ituri, including more than 373,000 in displacement sites, and warned that unplanned departures from a site could hamper disease surveillance. 1

Right · 1Health workers are also at risk. A Congolese doctors' organisation confirmed that Dr. Victor Kingombe died in Kisangani after exposure to Ebola patients. Per Radio Okapi, it cited shortages of trained doctors, water, cleaning products and protective equipment, and called for an independent investigation. 1 Right · 2Assessments of the trend differ. Congo's Ministry of Public Health announced an "overall favorable development" on Saturday, citing contact tracing for 78.3 percent of implicated persons and seven health zones with no new case in 42 days. Africa CDC said confirmed cases are falling but that this could reflect insecurity and poor community cooperation in some hotspots. 1 2 Right · 1Breitbart adds that the ministry is seeing more cases of other diseases, mainly malaria. It also cites Bloomberg and ACAPS data showing that routine health service use in four health districts fell from almost 24,900 patient encounters in April to just over 14,300 in June. 1