DRC Ebola outbreak remains active as death toll reaches 3,779 – Africa CDC

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains active, with 7,820 cases and 3,779 deaths recorded nationwide.

Wessam Mankoula, regional director at the Northern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre, Africa CDC, said this during a Thursday webinar on the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and ongoing response efforts.

Mr Mankoula said the outbreak had affected 63 health zones across seven provinces, with 49 health zones still in the active phase and continuing to report cases across the DRC during response operations.

He said eight health zones had entered the sustained controlled phase, while six others were in the controlled phase after reporting no cases for specified periods under routine monitoring.

According to him, the outbreak has plateaued over the past five weeks, partly driven by declining cases in Ituri, the epicentre of the outbreak in DRC, and surrounding areas.

He, however, cautioned against interpreting the decline as evidence that the outbreak was under control, noting that some provinces were still recording upward trends in several affected provinces.

Mr Mankoula said cases in Ituri declined by 25 per cent during the latest three-week period, while deaths dropped by 31 per cent compared with the previous three weeks overall, as recently reported.

He said North Kivu recorded a different trend, with cases increasing by 56 per cent and deaths rising by 19 per cent during the same three-week period there, in recent weeks.

The official said North Kivu also recorded the highest case-fatality ratio of about 60.5 per cent, compared with the national average of approximately 48 per cent during the outbreak period.

He attributed the situation partly to insecurity and limited access to affected communities, which were making active case searches and contact tracing increasingly difficult for health workers in affected areas.

Mr Mankoula said children below five years were among the most affected groups, prompting collaboration with UNICEF to strengthen case management for paediatric patients in affected areas in the region as needed.

He said community transmission remained a major concern, with about 65 per cent of reported cases occurring within communities, requiring stronger engagement and deployment of community health workers across affected communities.

Mr Mankoula said the contact listing had improved from about 10 contacts per case at the beginning of the outbreak to approximately 20 per case in affected areas currently.

He said the figure remained below the target of 60 contacts per case, emphasising the need to strengthen contact tracing and community-based surveillance in affected communities nationwide.

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The Africa CDC official said the response had also expanded laboratory capacity, with 24 laboratories now able to conduct more than 3,400 tests daily across affected areas in the affected region.

He said additional laboratory equipment and more than 100,000 test kits had been provided to strengthen testing in affected and neighbouring areas across the region, supporting response efforts. (NAN)