The Ebola epidemic is “extremely serious and difficult, and it surpasses us”: critical WHO forecast on DR Congo

“We are intensifying operations as a matter of urgency, but for the moment the epidemic is advancing faster than us“he declared during an online ministerial meeting organized by the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“There are more than 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths,” Tedros said.

In addition, he confirmed that this Tuesday he will travel to the DRC together with the executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, Chikwe Ihekweazu.

“We are trying to catch up with an epidemic that spreads very quickly. We are urgently expanding operations, but for the moment the epidemic overcomes us“acknowledged the head of the WHO.

Tedros also recalled that the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, both in the east of the DRC, are located mired in a long conflict between the Congolese Army and rebel groupswhose intensification in recent months has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

“There is a great distrust towards foreign authorities among the local population. In the last week, there have been two security incidents in health centers. “Building trust in affected communities is critical to an effective response and is one of our top priorities,” he said.

The “complexity” of this outbreak also has to do with the lack of approved vaccines and treatments for the Bundibugyo strain, whose fatality rate ranges between 30% and 50%, according to the WHO.

To reverse this situation, Tedros stressed that last week the WHO convened the leaders of the Interim Medical Countermeasures Network, an initiative promoted by that UN agency, to review the ddevelopment of vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests.

The virus probably began circulating in Ituri about two months before the outbreak was declared on the 15th, according to the WHO, which on May 17 classified the outbreak as “public health emergency of international concern”.

It also spread to Uganda, where there have already been seven cases, including one death of a Congolese citizen who is considered an imported contagion.

This Friday, the WHO raised the risk of the outbreak within the DRC from “high” to “very high”while the risk remains “high” at the level of the sub-Saharan Africa region and “low” at a global scale.

Ten African countries are at “high risk” of being affected by the epidemic declared in the east of the DRC and in Uganda, as they share a border with those two nations, the public health agency of the African Union warned this Saturday.

This is the 17th outbreak recorded in the DRC since the virus was first detected in 1976.

The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people or animals and causes severe hemorrhagic fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding.