Number of suspected Ebola cases in DR Congo passes 900 as health workers face attacks and shortages

Congolese authorities say that suspected Ebola cases have now passed 900 in the ongoing outbreak in the east of the country.The Congolese ministry of communication, in a post on X on Sunday, said there were 904 suspected cases and 119 suspected deaths.Authorities had previously announced more than 700 suspected Ebola cases, and more than 170 suspected deaths, mostly in Ituri province, where the outbreak is centred.The World Health Organization has said the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for the Democratic Republic of Congo, but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.Health authorities in the country are facing serious challenges as they try to stem the outbreak, which has been declared a global health emergency.There have been arson attacks on Ebola treatment centres in the country’s east – two centres in two towns were hit last week, exposing the anger in a region beset by violence linked to armed rebel groups, the displacement of a large number of people, the failure of local government and international aid cuts that experts say have stripped health facilities in vulnerable communities.Health workers take part in the funeral of Ebola victims in Butembo, North Kivu province. Photograph: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham/EPAColin Thomas-Jensen, director of impact at the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, said the attacks may reflect the “built-in skepticism and anger” of people in eastern Congo over how the region has been treated, with years of violence from foreign-linked rebel groups and a failure of their government and international peacekeepers to protect them.Another source of anger has been the strict protocols around the burial of suspected victims of Ebola, which authorities are taking charge of wherever they can to prevent further spread of the disease during traditional burials – where families prepare the bodies and people gather for a funeral.The first burning of an Ebola centre in Rwampara was by a group of young men trying to retrieve a friend’s body, according to witnesses and police. The witnesses said the crowd accused the foreign aid group operating there of lying about Ebola.Authorities in north-eastern Congo have now banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people, and armed soldiers and police are guarding some burials carried out by aid workers.Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to foreign countries or the extremist Islamic State group.The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of the region. While the Congolese government still largely controls the north-eastern Ituri province, which is the centre of the Ebola outbreak, its control is tenuous. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked to Islamic State, is one of the dominant rebel groups there and is responsible for violent attacks against civilian targets.Before the outbreak, Doctors Without Borders said in an assessment that the insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently, causing doctors and nurses to flee, leaving overwhelmed health facilities and, in some parts, “catastrophic conditions”.The UN humanitarian office says almost 1 million people have been displaced from their homes by conflict in Ituri.Flames and smoke rise from an Ebola treatment centre in Rwampara. Photograph: Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne/APIt means the Ebola outbreak is “unfolding in communities already facing insecurity, displacement and fragile healthcare systems,” said Gabriela Arenas, a regional coordinator at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.There are concerns the disease might spread to the large displacement camps near the city of Bunia, where the first cases were reported.Health experts say international aid cuts last year by the US and other rich nations were devastating for eastern Congo because of its multiple problems.The cuts “reduced the capacity to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks”, said Thomas McHale, public health director at Physicians for Human Rights. Congo has had more than a dozen previous Ebola outbreaks.Aid groups fighting this outbreak on the ground say they don’t have the equipment they need, such as face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits, and body bags and other materials needed to safely bury the bodies of those who have died, which can be highly contagious.“We have made requests to different partners, but we have not yet really received anything,” said Julienne Lusenge, president of Women’s Solidarity for Inclusive Peace and Development, an aid group operating a small hospital near Bunia.“We only have hand sanitiser and a few masks for the nurses,” she said.The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment.