More than 3,000 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, according to the latest official figures released today.
The epidemic has swept through the conflict-affected east and northeast of the country, infecting 6,186 people and killing 3,007, the Congolese National Institute of Public Health said.
The outbreak’s fatality rate stands at 48.6%, while 1,409 patients have recovered, the institute reported.
Transmission is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, outstripping efforts to identify cases and contain the virus.
Concerns have also grown over the return of students to classrooms while the outbreak remains active, with schools presenting new opportunities for transmission.
The virus has reached six provinces, including areas where the Congolese state has limited influence and armed groups have fueled persistent insecurity.
As cases surge, the health response has come under severe strain, facing shortages of resources as well as deep mistrust among communities in some affected areas.
A health worker takes a woman’s temperature as part of Ebola screening efforts in Goma
Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes haemorrhagic fever. Over the past 50 years, it has killed more than 15,000 people across Africa.
No approved vaccine
The outbreak began in the remote northeastern province of Ituri and is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no vaccine or treatment has yet received approval.
Researchers are testing several vaccines and treatments, but the vaccines currently approved target only the Zaire strain, responsible for the largest Ebola outbreak recorded to date.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised launching a phase three clinical trial of Ervebo, the vaccine used against the Zaire strain.
WHO experts have not yet established whether Ervebo can protect people from Bundibugyo, although early findings indicate it may provide some level of protection.
A shipment containing 16,250 doses for frontline medical workers reached DR Congo at the end of last month. Vaccinations began soon afterward in Kisangani, the capital of northeastern Tshopo province.
The WHO has warned that the outbreak is on course to surpass the deadliest Ebola epidemic previously recorded — the West African crisis from 2014 to 2016, which claimed about 11,000 lives.
