DR Congo’s worst Ebola epidemic ever passes 7,000 cases

DRC detected the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus in mid-May; nearly 3,400 people have since died.More than 7,000 Ebola cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) worst outbreak of the deadly disease, according to figures from Congolese authorities.The DRC officially detected the latest outbreak in mid-May, but experts suspect it had been spreading under the radar for weeks before.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3DR Congo begins vaccinating against largest and deadliest Ebola outbreaklist 2 of 3Children return to school in DR Congo amid growing concerns over Ebolalist 3 of 3Ebola case detected in seventh DR Congo provinceend of listOf the 7,022 registered cases, 3,398 people have died, according to DRC authorities. Currently, 837 people are in isolation or receiving treatment.The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus, DRC’s 17th Ebola epidemic, began in the northeastern Ituri province.It has since spread across conflict-plagued, remote eastern and northern regions where armed groups have roamed for decades, the presence of the state is weak and health infrastructure is largely lacking.Earlier this week, one case of the disease was confirmed in a seventh province, South-Ubangi, which is in the northwest of the country bordering the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville.Most of the recorded cases remain in Ituri, where Ebola has been detected in schools in the days after the post-summer holiday return to classes, causing alarm among parents and health workers.“We are very worried because we don’t know which child comes from which family or what the health status of the members of that family is,” Angele Magani, a mother of a schoolboy in Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, told the AFP news agency.“We are so scared, even though the school authorities reassure us about the health measures that have been put in place,” she added.Bunia school official Roger Mungimbo told AFP that “there is a mandatory hand-washing system with soap, and we have also done everything possible to have a maximum of 30 pupils per classroom”.