Ebola fight in DRC ‘far from over,’ warns WHO chief

What the report says

The World Health Organization says the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains “far from over,” even as some parts of the outbreak show signs of improvement. In comments reported by Al Jazeera from an online briefing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said cases were rising sharply in North Kivu, where weekly infections had reportedly more than doubled over two weeks, while the wider eastern region continues to face multiple outbreaks at once.

According to the report, Tedros said transmission is easing in Ituri province, which has been the epicentre of the outbreak, and that South Kivu has not recorded any new cases since May. Still, he warned that the epidemic is continuing to spread and cause deaths. The WHO said the size of the area affected makes the response difficult to manage as a single outbreak.

A key complication is the presence of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no known cure. The WHO said treatment trials and work on post-exposure protection are moving faster, and that more than 3,000 health workers and other frontline staff have been vaccinated with Merck’s Ervebo vaccine. However, the vaccine is licensed for a different Ebola virus species, and its effectiveness against Bundibugyo is not established.

Al Jazeera reported that since the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May, more than 7,200 cases and more than 3,500 deaths have been recorded across seven provinces.