DR Congo Ebola cases top 8,000 as WHO warns outbreak still expanding
Kinshasa, Sep 28 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have surpassed 8,000, the DRC health authorities said Monday, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the outbreak remains large, geographically expanding and marked by sustained transmission.
As of Saturday, the country had recorded 8,067 confirmed cases, including 3,901 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 48.4 per cent, according to the latest government situation report released on Monday. A total of 2,070 patients have recovered, Xinhua News Agency reported.
In its latest Disease Outbreak News published Friday, the WHO said the number of new cases reported each day remained high, while transmission intensity varied considerably across affected provinces and health zones.
“The continuously high case fatality ratio, and especially the continuous high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the WHO said.
Ituri Province remains the epicentre of the outbreak, but transmission patterns continue to diverge. Incidence in Ituri had declined gradually from a mid-August peak, while North Kivu Province saw a substantial rise that reached its highest reported level in mid-September, according to the WHO. Sustained transmission also continues in Haut-Uele Province, while renewed transmission activity has been reported in Tshopo Province.
The outbreak has now affected 63 health zones across seven provinces. The WHO said the latest geographic expansion, including newly affected areas in Sud-Ubangi and Haut-Uele, had increased the risk of cross-border transmission.
Since it was declared in May, the outbreak has evolved into the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak globally, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.
