WHO says DRC Ebola outbreak remains far from control

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains far from control, with the risk of international spread still high.

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said this in a statement on Tuesday, adding that nearly 5,000 people had been infected and more than 2,300 had died across six provinces and 55 health zones.

He described it as the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded and the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak to date.

According to him, insecurity, displacement, and intense population movement through roads, rivers and mining routes were contributing to the rapid spread.

He expressed concern that many people were dying in their homes and communities, outside treatment centres and on known contact lists.

“Such deaths indicate unidentified transmission chains that must be found and broken to end the epidemic,” he said.

Ghebreyesus recalled that the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern three months ago due to its rapid spread.

He said the threat extended beyond the DRC, noting that a traveller had recently carried the virus to France.

“Uganda, however, has successfully stopped transmission following an initial spillover, demonstrating that decisive action can contain the virus,” he said.

The WHO chief said the organisation, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and partners were intensifying surveillance, treatment, safe burials, community engagement, and clinical trials under the leadership of the DRC government.

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He said two vaccines specifically designed against the Bundibugyo virus had entered human trials, while another had shown cross-protection in animal studies.

He added that the WHO-sponsored PARTNERS treatment trial had enrolled 100 patients as efforts continued to develop effective treatments.

Ghebreyesus said the response required faster data sharing, stronger surveillance, sustained financing, improved security and access, and stronger coordination among neighbouring countries.

He also warned that the Ebola response must not disrupt essential health services addressing maternal mortality, malaria, cholera, pneumonia and diarrhoea diseases.

The director general urged the Emergency Committee to recommend temporary measures capable of ending the epidemic and preventing further national and international spread.