Fear is mounting in Bunia as DRC’s Ebola death toll surpasses 2,000, with health workers battling community transmission, insecurity and mistrust as the outbreak spreads.
It comes as one new study from ‘Nature Medicine’ found that the current outbreak has potentially started with new transmission of the virus from animals to humans.
Footage captured on Wednesday shows health workers in protective gear enforcing prevention measures at a local health centre.
“It is really worrying, but it does not prevent us from doing our work <…> We cannot close the facility and leave patients to their own fate,” medical biologist Ladi Asmany said.
WHO reported 4,449 cases and 2,061 deaths, with around 90% of cases and 80% of deaths in Ituri province.
“The progression of the epidemic does not mean that the response is doing nothing. However, it rather shows that the interventions are taking place in an extremely difficult environment,” explained Jackson Ular Mananu, a public health expert.
“When a family is afraid of health facilities, when a family is afraid of the response teams, this can really result in some cases not being detected,” Mananu added.
Residents reported mounting fear despite prevention efforts.
“More than 2,000 deaths, that really scares us <…> We use disinfectants, we wash our hands with soap, but despite that, people continue to die,” a taxi driver said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described the outbreak as the second-largest on record, warning it could eclipse the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic at its current pace.
The outbreak is DRC’s 17th since Ebola was first identified in the country in 1976. Armed conflict in affected areas has hampered access for medical teams and complicated efforts to contain transmission.
Source: Viory
