DR Congo Ebola outbreak reaches major city with over 400 deaths

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 400 people and continues to spread, with health authorities confirming a first case in the major city of Kisangani, as reported by France 24 on July 2nd. 

The highly infectious disease has infected 1,406 people and claimed the lives of 438. The fatality rate of the disease is just over 31 percent- since the outbreak started on May 15th. The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) stated these figures in its latest report published on June 2nd. 

The centre of the outbreak was in the northeastern Ituri province, where more than 83 percent of the deaths have occurred. The province borders South Sudan and Uganda, and the virus has spread to the nearby provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. 

The case that was recently reported in Kisangani, a northeastern city of 1.5 million residents and the capital of Tshopo province was reported after a test was conducted on the body of a 24-year-old pregnant woman and was positive, the INSP said. 

“The deceased’s body was secretly transported by motorcycle to Kisangani” from the health zone of Nia Nia in Ituri, the health authorities said. The bodies of deceased Ebola victims remain highly infectious and in many cases the virus has been spread during burial rites. 

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi stated that “Epidemics do not recognise borders,” at a press conference in Kinshasa following an official visit by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa which took place on July 2nd. However, Ramaphosa called on the world to “not lock out the DRC” by imposing travel bans, expressing optimism toward containing the outbreak. 

Health authorities continue to say that only three provinces in total are affected by the virus, as they say that cases in Tshopo and Haut-Uele were “imported” from Ituri.

Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years, and the current crisis is the 17th to hit the DRC whose most deadly outbreak killed nearly 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020.

The Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus is the strain behind the current outbreak and no vaccine or specific treatment exists. However a trial of potential Ebola treatments – the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir – has begun, the World Health Organization said on July 2nd, but could take months to produce definitive answers.

France 24, Maghrebi.org.