Humanitarian workers evacuated after violence erupts at DR Congo's Ebola treatment centre

Kinshasa, July 16 (IANS) Humanitarian workers involved in the response to the Ebola outbreak were evacuated early Thursday after violence erupted overnight at an Ebola treatment centre in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to local security and civil society sources, the violence broke out following the death of a pregnant woman at Nyakunde General Hospital, which serves as an Ebola treatment centre in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Angered members of the local community reportedly targeted the treatment centre, triggering an exchange of gunfire. Following the incident, a humanitarian convoy was evacuated as the security situation deteriorated. Casualties were reported, although details remained unclear.

Local sources also said that several Ebola patients receiving treatment at the facility may have fled, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Ebola response has been further complicated by insecurity, attacks on health workers and medical facilities, community mistrust, patients leaving treatment centres before completing treatment, and recent protests by frontline responders over working conditions and unpaid allowances.

A total of 119 health workers and frontline responders have been infected during the outbreak, including 60 who have died, Congolese authorities said Thursday.

Confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC have surpassed 2,000 as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned the true scale of the outbreak could be “at least two to four times” the reported caseload.

A total of 2011 confirmed cases, including 754 deaths, were reported, according to the latest report released by the country’s health authorities on Tuesday.

The announcement came as the WHO warned earlier in the day that undetected transmission, community deaths and rapid geographic expansion threatened to keep the response behind the epidemic curve.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said the current outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, was growing faster than any Ebola outbreak.

The outbreak, declared in mid-May, has spread to five provinces and is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, according to the WHO.

–IANS

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