DRC detected the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus in mid-May; nearly ۳,۴۰۰ people have since died.
Published On ۱۲ Sep ۲۰۲۶
More than ۷,۰۰۰ Ebola cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) worst outbreak of the deadly disease, according to figures from Congolese authorities.
The DRC officially detected the latest outbreak in mid-May, but experts suspect it had been spreading under the radar for weeks before.
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Of the ۷,۰۲۲ registered cases, ۳,۳۹۸ people have died, according to DRC authorities. Currently, ۸۳۷ people are in isolation or receiving treatment.
The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus, DRC’s ۱۷th Ebola epidemic, began in the northeastern Ituri province.
It has since spread across conflict-plagued, remote eastern and northern regions where armed groups have roamed for decades, the presence of the state is weak and health infrastructure is largely lacking.
Earlier this week, one case of the disease was confirmed in a seventh province, South-Ubangi, which is in the northwest of the country bordering the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville.
Most of the recorded cases remain in Ituri, where Ebola has been detected in schools in the days after the post-summer holiday return to classes, causing alarm among parents and health workers.
“We are very worried because we don’t know which child comes from which family or what the health status of the members of that family is,” Angele Magani, a mother of a schoolboy in Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, told the AFP news agency.
“We are so scared, even though the school authorities reassure us about the health measures that have been put in place,” she added.
Bunia school official Roger Mungimbo told AFP that “there is a mandatory hand-washing system with soap, and we have also done everything possible to have a maximum of ۳۰ pupils per classroom”.
“We regularly make the children aware that they must not touch each other, must not greet each other and must wash their hands regularly,” he added.
Ebola, which has killed more than ۱۵,۰۰۰ people in Africa over the last ۵۰ years, is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and can cause severe internal and external bleeding and organ failure.
The world’s deadliest outbreak in West Africa in ۲۰۱۴-۲۰۱۶ was the Zaire Ebola virus. That epidemic killed more than ۱۱,۳۲۵ people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Bundibugyo strain currently seen in DRC has no approved vaccine or treatment currently, although several potential treatments and vaccines are being tested.
