The Ebola epidemic in Congo has reached an eighth province in the country’s north, authorities said Sunday, as the spread of the world’s fastest-growing disease outbreak continues to outpace response efforts.
The Ministry of Health recorded two cases, including one death, in the North Oubangui province, which borders the Central African Republic. The ministry said the two patients were men in their twenties living in the Wapinda health zone, bordering Bas-Uélé province, where cases of Ebola have already been reported.
Authorities recorded at least 9,400 cases, including more than 4,500 deaths, during the outbreak declared in mid-May, making it the deadliest in Congo’s history.
The virus has spread to other countries, including neighboring Uganda, which has since declared himself free from the diseaseAnd Kenya, which recorded a seventh case SATURDAY. The Central African Republic has not recorded any confirmed cases.
“We are seeing a general decrease in pockets of Ebola, but unfortunately, geographically it is expanding,” World Health Organization regional director for Africa Mohamed Yakub Janabi told The Associated Press in an interview in Beni, eastern Congo, on Friday.
Janabi said one of the biggest challenges has been convincing infected people to seek medical assistance, adding that some deaths occur in the community outside health centers.
Serge Ngalebato, an epidemiologist and field coordinator for the Wamba health zone in Haut-Uélé province, told the AP that health workers in his health zone had introduced periodic home visits because people were too afraid to go to the hospital.
Nord-Oubangui is located between Sud-Oubangui and Bas-Uélé, the last two provinces where the disease has spread along the border with the Central African Republic, where recurring armed violence has forced thousands to flee and take refuge in Congolese border communities. Access to the region can be difficult due to poor road conditions and limited communications networks.
Ituri province in eastern Congo remains the epicenter of the disease, accounting for nearly three-quarters of confirmed cases, according to the most recent government data, which shows 66 health zones have been affected since the outbreak began.
Congo’s official ACP news agency reported on Sunday that authorities in North Kivu province – where the WHO says significant transmission continues – will impose a one-week ban on people entering the province from Ituri from Monday, in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Other measures will be introduced, including a ban on transporting more than two people on a motorbike or four people in a car, as well as the suspension of large public gatherings such as mass sporting activities, nightclubs and political demonstrations.
The spread of the epidemic, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus for which there is no approved vaccines or treatmentsis fueled by mass population movements, rebel violence, distrust and poor working conditions for frontline workers.
Ngalebato said efforts to contain the virus in the Wamba health zone were initially met with resistance from local residents, but over time the community became more understanding and began reporting positive cases.
“Ebola is a community disease. If the community does not cooperate, it will be very difficult,” he said.
He added that most of the cases reported in his health zone are around mining areas where the population is constantly moving, so many deaths have been reported in these areas.
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Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed from Bonn, Germany
Gn Health
