Ebola cases in Congo top 3,200, nearing record of the country's worst outbreak

What the report says

Newsday, carrying an Associated Press report, said confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s current outbreak have risen to 3,262, according to an overnight update from the country’s Ministry of Health. The ministry reported 1,437 deaths. The outbreak, declared May 15, is centered in eastern Ituri province, with Bunia and the mining town of Mongbwalu among affected areas.

The case total is approaching the scale of Congo’s 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described as the country’s largest, with more than 3,400 cases and over 2,200 deaths across Congo and neighboring Uganda. The only Ebola outbreak with a higher overall toll was the 2014-2016 West Africa crisis, which recorded about 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths.

The AP report said the pace of spread is alarming health officials and aid groups. Onesphore Bangenza of Mercy Corps in Bunia said reaching a similar case count in about 10 weeks, compared with nearly two years in the earlier outbreak, showed the virus was spreading faster than containment efforts. The current outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, for which the report said there are no approved vaccines or treatments.

Response efforts have been hindered by insecurity, including rebel violence, attacks or hostility from some residents, and strikes by health workers over unpaid wages. Officials also have struggled to identify the first patient and trace contacts amid displacement from conflict and illegal mining. Newsday/AP also reported that Uganda declared its related outbreak over Tuesday, saying its cases had been imported from Congo.