The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is advancing at an alarming rate, with the World Health Organisation warning that the disease could spread beyond the country’s borders.
The Punch reported that WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, issued the warning on Tuesday during an emergency meeting on the outbreak.
“We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” Ghebreyesus told the meeting.
“It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.”
The warning followed the DRC government’s announcement on Monday that more than 2,300 people had died from nearly 5,000 recorded cases, making the outbreak the deadliest Ebola epidemic in the country’s history.
The outbreak, which was officially declared on May 15, is believed to have been circulating for several weeks before authorities confirmed it.
It has affected parts of northern and eastern DRC, areas where limited government presence, inadequate healthcare facilities and prolonged armed conflict have complicated efforts to contain the virus.
Tuesday’s meeting was the second emergency committee session since the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17.
The committee had yet to announce its latest recommendations at the time of the report.
According to the WHO, the public health risk is currently considered “very high” nationally in the DRC and “high” in Uganda and other neighbouring countries. The risk is assessed as “low” across the rest of Africa and globally.
The virus has been detected in six provinces in the DRC, including areas close to the South Sudan border, while cases have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda.
“The risk of further national and international spread remains high,” Ghebreyesus warned.
“It is moving faster than any previous Ebola outbreak,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks.
The current outbreak has surpassed the previous deadliest Ebola epidemic in the DRC, which occurred between 2018 and 2020 and claimed 2,299 lives from 3,381 confirmed cases, according to WHO figures based on Congolese data.
However, the largest Ebola outbreak on record occurred in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, killing more than 11,300 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
