Ebola death toll in DR Congo passes 5,000

What the report says

The death toll from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed 5,000, according to government data cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters. The outlet reported that the outbreak was declared in May and has now infected more than 10,000 people, making it the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.

Authorities are still struggling to bring the spread under control. The article said there are no approved treatments or vaccines for the Bundibugyo strain driving the current outbreak, and that delayed detection, conflict and overstretched health services have helped the virus move faster than in earlier emergencies. The disease has been reported in eight of the DRC’s 26 provinces so far.

Al Jazeera also noted that the outbreak has reached beyond the DRC. Nigeria recently became the fourth African country to report a case, alongside earlier reports from Kenya and Uganda. That wider spread has prompted some governments to tighten travel rules for affected countries.

The current epidemic is now described as the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, behind the 2014-2016 crisis in West Africa. Saudi Arabia said on Friday it was suspending travel to and entry from Kenya, including visa issuance, and had already imposed similar measures on the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan in June.