The Ebola outbreak declared in mid-May in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the deadliest in its recent history, has already caused more than 2,862 deaths and totals 5,945 confirmed infections throughout the national territory, according to the updated balance of this Sunday, after a week marked by new chains of transmission.
The response teams have already identified 60 emergency health zones, after Biena and Manguredjipa were included last Friday, in the province of North Kivu. Meanwhile, the fatality rate continues to rise slowly but steadily and is now at 48.1%, according to data collected until August 28.
The main focus of the outbreak is located in the province of Ituri, which serves as a stronghold for one of the most violent armed groups on the African continent, the Allied Democratic Forces, the local branch of the Islamic State. Their offensives, which leave dozens of fatalities each week, have caused massive population displacements that severely hinder the control and monitoring of the disease.
An important part of these fleeing people is heading to the neighboring Kivu region, which is also the scene of a prolonged conflict between the Congolese Army and the militias of the March 23 Movement, the M23. This armed group controls the capitals of the two provinces and has launched its own response plan to the outbreak, in relative coordination with international medical agencies but without maintaining any dialogue channel with the DRC government.
The widespread violence in the six provinces affected by the epidemic also hits healthcare personnel hard, targeted by assaults, "mainly in mining communities and among groups of young men," according to the UN. Around 260 attacks have been recorded, with at least eight health workers killed, in addition to another 43 deceased due to the Ebola virus itself.
As a measure of extreme urgency, the Democratic Republic of the Congo received this Saturday the first batch of the Ervebo vaccine, whose effectiveness against the Bundibugyo strain that predominates in this outbreak is questionable and for which, in reality, there is still no specific vaccine.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, has detailed that the 70,000 doses that the DRC expects to receive in the coming days will be used in additional trial programs. The clinical tests cited by the WHO indicate that "serious side effects of the vaccine are very rare" and that, at least, they could offer some degree of protection against infections.