The Ebola epidemic has already killed more than 2,500 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is “progressing exponentially”, warned Julien Harneis, principal Ebola coordinator for the United Nations, on Friday August 21.
“The Ebola epidemic is progressing exponentially. The epidemic is spreading widely: it now covers an area larger than that of France,” declared Julien Harneis from Bunia, in the east of the country, during a press conference held in Geneva (Switzerland).
Half of deaths occurred in the last 20 days
To date, the epidemic has caused “more than 2,500 deaths. The death toll is obviously increasing every day”, he added, specifying that half of the deaths had occurred “during the last 20 days”.
“Its spread exceeds the speed of our response; it intensifies and spreads faster than the efforts deployed throughout the region,” underlined Julien Harneis.
Declared on May 15, this epidemic surpassed in just three months that of 2018-2020 in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, previously considered the deadliest in the country’s history (2,299 deaths out of 3,381 confirmed cases, according to figures from the World Health Organization based on data from the Congolese authorities).
In addition, in three months, seven times more cases and five times more deaths were recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo than during the first three months of the largest Ebola epidemic in history, which caused more than 11,300 deaths in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, according to the African Union health agency (Africa CDC).
Ebola, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
A criticized and insufficient response
There is no vaccine or specific treatment approved for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola causing the current outbreak, but clinical trials are underway and 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, approved for Zaire, another strain of the virus, have been sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo to assess its impact on Bundibugyo.
Underfunded, the response is the subject of criticism for its slowness and lack of organization and is met with distrust from part of the population.
The UN coordinator also recalled that 43 health workers had died from the virus and that others had been the target of attacks, particularly on board ambulances or in health infrastructures.
“Public order is under attack and basic services, particularly health, have been fragmented. The conditions of intervention are extremely harsh,” he recalled, while a myriad of armed groups are active in the regions affected by the epidemic, complicating access to populations.
“This epidemic continues to spread, at a pace that the response cannot keep up with,” confirmed Javid Abdelmoneim, international president of the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in a press release published in Geneva. “This response requires much more than additional beds. It requires better screening, the safe isolation of sick people and their contacts, as well as support for health professionals.”
Julien Harneis also highlighted the need to intensify the response, insisting that “if we increase staffing levels and channel more resources to remote areas in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we will be able, in a few months, to slow down transmission and succeed in putting an end to it.”
“If we do not do it (…), this epidemic will become more deadly. It will spread further and risks spreading to neighboring countries,” he warned.
With AFP
