The World Health Organization declared Monday that the Ebola outbreak spreading across northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is now outpacing the international response, as suspected deaths climbed to 220 and health facilities treating patients came under repeated attack by communities resisting containment measures.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency online meeting of the African Union that responders were “urgently scaling up operations” but the epidemic was moving faster than their efforts. He announced he would travel to the DRC on Tuesday alongside Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme.
“We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us,” Tedros said. He urged all countries neighbouring the DRC to take immediate precautionary action to prevent cross-border transmission.
KEY FACTS: 220+ suspected Ebola deaths in DRC • Uganda confirms 7 cases including 2 health workers in Kampala • Attacks force 25 patients to flee hospitals • Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or treatment • WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern earlier this month
The outbreak, caused by the rare and deadly Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, has centred on Ituri province’s Rwampara, Mongbwalu, Nyankunde and Bunia districts. Health workers face the dual crisis of a fast-moving epidemic and active community resistance.
On Saturday, 18 Ebola patients fled Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital after unidentified individuals burned tents erected by Médecins Sans Frontières where patients were being isolated. The hospital endured four more waves of attacks on Sunday, led by young people mobilised by relatives of a religious leader who died of Ebola. Seven additional patients escaped, and Congolese police and soldiers were forced to intervene. One critically ill patient died while trying to flee his bed during the second attack.
The attackers’ primary demand: the return of bodies of Ebola victims for traditional burials, which involve washing and direct contact with the deceased — a practice health authorities have banned because infected bodies are highly contagious. A similar incident occurred Thursday in Rwampara, near Bunia, when a crowd set fire to a treatment centre after authorities refused to release a victim’s body.
Uganda’s health ministry announced two new confirmed cases Monday, bringing its total to seven. Both new cases involve Ugandan health workers at a private facility in the capital, Kampala — a sign the virus is spreading beyond the initial border cluster.
The situation has prompted concern across East Africa. Ten countries neighbouring the DRC and Uganda have been classified by the WHO as high-risk for onward transmission. Earlier this month, Tedros declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” — the highest alarm level the WHO can sound.
The Bundibugyo strain, first identified in 2007, has a fatality rate that can exceed 40 percent in some outbreaks. Unlike the better-known Zaire strain — which has an approved vaccine — there is no licenced immunisation or therapeutic for the Bundibugyo variant, forcing medical teams to rely on experimental protocols and aggressive isolation measures.
Tedros’s visit to the DRC on Tuesday is intended to accelerate the deployment of additional response teams and secure guarantees for the safety of health workers operating in some of the world’s most challenging terrain. The UN health agency has warned that without a significant surge in resources and international support within the next two weeks, the outbreak could spread to major population centres.
Reporting by Amara Osei in Nairobi. Additional reporting from Nairobi and Kampala.