Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: 3,998 deaths from 7,022 confirmed cases

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing the worst Ebola outbreak in its history, with 7,022 laboratory-confirmed cases and 3,998 reported deaths so far. Authorities in Kinshasa say the epidemic may have passed its peak.

According to official data, 1,671 people have recovered from the disease. The current outbreak is the country’s 17th Ebola epidemic, declared in mid-May.

Ebola, a disease that is fatal in many cases, has caused more than 15,000 deaths in Africa over the past five decades.

The northeastern province of Ituri remains the main center of the epidemic, with most cases confirmed there. The virus has spread mainly in the east and north of the country, in isolated areas severely affected by unrest, while health measures have failed to contain its spread.

This week alone, cases also appeared in the seventh province, South Ubangi, which borders the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville.

“The peak was passed at the beginning of the third week of August,” government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Saturday in a post on X.

Muyaya added that “all the indicators show a decline in the number of cases.” He also explained that in “10 of the 61 affected health zones,” no new cases had been recorded “for at least 21 days.”

Ebola cases have also been detected in schools, just days before the start of the new school year. The news has increased concern among parents and health workers, according to education system sources who spoke to AFP.

“We are very concerned because we do not know which child comes from which family or what the health condition of the members of that family is,” Angel Magani, the mother of a new pupil in Bunia, the provincial capital, told AFP.

“We are very afraid, although the school administration assures us about the health measures being implemented,” she continued.

Roger Mungibo, a school administrator in Bunia, told AFP that washing hands with soap is mandatory. “We are doing everything possible to have a maximum of 30 students in each class,” he said.

Agencies involved in tackling the epidemic warn that the funds available are insufficient to ensure the isolation and monitoring of patients.

The World Health Organization estimated on Tuesday that an additional 5,000 health workers are needed to manage the epidemic.

Meanwhile, various treatments and vaccines are being tested against the Budibugio strain of the virus, which caused the current outbreak. So far, there is no approved treatment for this type of virus.

The second-deadliest Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a large country in Central Africa, caused around 2,300 deaths among the 3,500 cases recorded between 2018 and 2020.