Congo’s Ebola outbreak now its deadliest ever. UN warns virus is ‘winning’

Ebola deaths were recorded at a rate of one every 28 minutes in Democratic Republic of Congo last week, making the outbreak the country’s deadliest on record as authorities struggle to contain the rapidly spreading disease.

The death toll reached 2,325 after another 365 fatalities were recorded last week, surpassing the 2,299 deaths during Congo’s previous worst Ebola outbreak in 2018-2020. Almost 5,000 confirmed infections have been reported since the current outbreak was declared in May, the National Institute of Public Health said Sunday.

The epidemic is doubling about every 20 days, Tom Fletcher, the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Friday, and the response needs to expand substantially to regain ground. Authorities and aid groups need to double the number of teams conducting safe burials, triple treatment capacity, improve contact tracing and deploy more experienced managers, according to Fletcher.

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“Ebola is winning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” he said. “We cannot let the virus outrun our response.”

Fletcher announced an additional $30.5 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund on Friday, on top of $24 million already allocated to Congo and neighbouring countries. The UN has deployed another 20 humanitarian staff to the outbreak’s epicentre, while the World Food Programme is expanding food assistance at Ebola treatment centers.

The pressure is spilling into ordinary hospitals and clinics. Dedicated beds for suspected Ebola patients in North Kivu province were fully occupied by Saturday, while suspected cases in Butembo, Masereka, Vuhovi and Kalunguta were being isolated in existing health facilities that weren’t designated transit centers, Congo’s public health institute said.

The virus poses particular risks for health workers. Ebola had infected at least 155 of them and killed 45 by Aug. 9, the World Health Organization said in a report Friday. The infections highlight persistent weaknesses in infection prevention and control, particularly outside designated Ebola treatment centers, the agency said.