World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) scales up surveillance efforts in response to the Ebola outbreak, more than 900 suspected cases have been identified so far, including 101 confirmed cases.
In Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, nearly five million people are living amid ongoing conflict, with one in four requiring humanitarian assistance and one in five internally displaced, Tedros said in a post on X.
“The violence is forcing people to flee, including health and humanitarian workers. This is severely impeding efforts to scale up Ebola contact tracing and identify infections early enough to provide supportive care,” he said.
He added that insecurity and fear were also fuelling mistrust within affected communities.
The WHO chief said the organisation and its humanitarian health partners continue to maintain a presence across Ituri, including in some of the hardest-to-reach and most insecure areas, where communities are facing not only the threat of Ebola but also several other diseases.
Tedros stressed that delivering a comprehensive package of healthcare services is essential not only to meet urgent health needs but also to build the trust necessary for an effective Ebola response, Xinhua news agency reported.
On May 16, Tedros declared that the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain in the DRC and Uganda constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
On May 22, the WHO revised its risk assessment to “very high” at the national level, while maintaining it at “high” regionally and “low” globally.
According to the WHO, Ebola is a severe and often fatal disease affecting humans and other primates.
The virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates. It then spreads among people through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected individuals, as well as contaminated surfaces and materials, including bedding and clothing.
The average Ebola fatality rate is around 50 per cent, although past outbreaks have recorded fatality rates ranging from 25 to 90 per cent.
The first Ebola outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa near tropical rainforests. The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the largest and most complex since the virus was first identified in 1976. The outbreak spread across multiple countries, beginning in Guinea before moving into Sierra Leone and Liberia.
-IANS
