WHO Reports 3,874 Ebola Cases and 1,751 Deaths in Congo

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for an urgent expansion of efforts to contain the country’s rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak. During a visit to Congo, Tedros said authorities must strengthen their response, improve access to treatment and provide greater protection, training and support to frontline healthcare workers.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15. According to WHO figures, 3,874 infections and 1,751 deaths have been confirmed. Tedros arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday and was expected to meet President Felix Tshisekedi. After discussions with organisations involved in the response, he warned that infections were increasing faster than containment operations, with cases doubling in some hotspots during the previous week.

Tedros said response teams must reach every affected community despite insecurity and population displacement. He also called for stronger coordination, improved disease surveillance, faster access to medical care and safe and dignified burials. Nearly 90% of reported infections have been identified in the northeastern province of Ituri, which Tedros previously visited at the end of May. Five eastern provinces have been affected, where healthcare infrastructure and the state’s presence remain limited.

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The United States announced more than $242 million in additional funding on Wednesday to support efforts against the outbreak. The latest allocation takes direct US assistance for the response to more than $500 million, according to the State Department. Meanwhile, a new 100-bed Ebola treatment centre opened in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, on Tuesday to accommodate the growing number of patients, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said.

Challenges confronting the response were highlighted in the Ituri mining town of Mongbwalu, where employees at an Ebola treatment centre protested over unpaid government allowances before police dispersed them with warning shots, according to hospital sources. The current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus, for which no vaccine or treatment has yet received regulatory approval. Ebola spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids and can cause severe haemorrhagic fever.

Several experimental vaccines and treatments are now being evaluated. Canada has authorised Moderna to begin clinical trials of a candidate Bundibugyo vaccine, while a volunteer received the first dose of an Oxford University-developed candidate in late July. Hilleman Laboratories is preparing another potential vaccine for human trials. Researchers in Ituri are also testing the antibody therapy MBP134 and antiviral remdesivir, separately and together, while the oral antiviral obeldesivir is being studied among people exposed to confirmed cases.

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