The director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jean Kaseya, reported this Sunday that the Ebola outbreak hitting the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo and which has already reached Uganda has caused 43 deaths and 263 confirmed infections since it was declared until last Saturday.
In an editorial published by the "Financial Times", Kaseya also detailed that more than 1,100 possible infections are being analyzed, still classified as suspected cases, in a health emergency that has become a decisive test for the affected countries, for the organization he leads, and for the African Union, given that "the risk of regional spread is already a reality".
The head of the African CDC, originally from the DRC, did not specify the breakdown of those affected, although the majority have been registered in his country. According to the latest United Nations count, the Congolese province of Ituri, the main focus of the outbreak, accounts for 88% of the confirmed cases, while in Uganda nine verified infections have been reported, including one death.
Kaseya stressed that the insecure environment is playing a key role in the spread of the disease. Clashes between the Army and militias operating in the north and northeast of Congo have caused a "constant movement of the population across the porous borders" between the DRC and Uganda. "Health systems are saturated and, for this strain of the virus, there is currently no authorized vaccine or specific treatment," he warned.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) is in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, this weekend to closely monitor the evolution of the outbreak and hold meetings with Congolese health authorities, led by the Minister of Health, Roger Kamba.
In his first press conference on Saturday, Kamba set a timeframe of "between four and six months" to "defeat or contain the outbreak". The head of the WHO, for his part, recalled the DRC's response in previous crises and argued that, despite the lack of an available vaccine for the current variant of the virus, the country's accumulated experience remains the main resource.
"We know this is a very complex crisis, but the DRC already has extensive experience in fighting the virus. We are confident that we will be able to contain this epidemic once again," Tedros stated.