Over 6,000 Ebola cases confirmed in DRC as death toll nears 3,000

What the report says

The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its most severe Ebola outbreak yet, with new figures showing more than 6,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,000 deaths, according to Al Jazeera’s report based on Reuters. The outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccine or treatment is available, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described it as the fastest-spreading Ebola epidemic ever recorded.

The DRC health ministry said 6,041 cases had been confirmed, including 1,366 recoveries and 2,911 deaths, with 619 patients isolated or hospitalized. The report says infections are moving faster than frontline teams can trace and isolate them, in part because many cases are appearing among people outside monitoring systems. Health officials and aid workers are focused on trying to contain spread in the eastern provinces, where dense communities, armed conflict, displacement and longstanding humanitarian needs are complicating the response.

Doctors Without Borders said airport closures and flight restrictions are also making it harder to move staff, test samples, arrange referrals and keep supply chains working. The article adds that frontline health workers briefly went on strike in early August over unpaid wages and poor working conditions. As a regional reference point, Uganda was declared free of Ebola on August 28 after 42 days without new cases.