Ebola cases in DR Congo surpass 10,000 in fastest-growing outbreak

Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surpassed 10,000 as the outbreak continues to spread across the country and beyond its borders. Government data released on Tuesday put confirmed cases at 10,060 and deaths at 4,887.

This is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in the country's history and nearly half of those confirmed to have the virus have died, making it also the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the country's history.

With cases mounting outside the DRC, the wider outbreak is the second-largest and second-deadliest on record, trailing only the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, which saw 28,600 infected and more than 11,000 dead within two years.

Containment challenges

About 80 percent of new cases are coming from outside the chains of transmission that health authorities are monitoring. The Africa CDC has stated that at least 95 percent of cases must come from known contacts of infected people for the outbreak to be considered under control.

The outbreak, declared on May 15, is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola strain for which no vaccine or treatment has been approved. The WHO announced on Friday that the first clinical trial for a vaccine had been rolled out.

Healthcare shortages

Five months into the outbreak, responders in the DRC report that some treatment centers are overwhelmed, while remote and newly affected areas lack medical supplies and health workers. Cases have been recorded in 66 health zones across eight provinces, up from just three in the first days.

Many teams lack adequate vehicles and struggle to persuade families to hand over the sick for treatment and the dead for safe burial. At least half of those who have died were never admitted for treatment.

The outbreak has disrupted routine care such as childhood vaccinations, and maternal deaths doubled in some provinces soon after it was declared. Strikes over delayed or unpaid wages are common, with Ebola responders in Nia Nia stopping work last week over bonuses owed since late August.

Health workers have come under attack amid public mistrust and frustration. On Saturday, assailants killed a nurse and seriously injured a colleague in Bafwasende as they responded to a suspected Ebola case. Last month, local politician Marie-Celestin Karondwa was fatally beaten after defending the Ebola response on the radio.

Cross-border spread

The virus has spread beyond the DRC's borders more than any previous Ebola epidemic. Uganda has required citizens returning from the DRC to quarantine for 21 days at their own expense after recording 20 imported cases and two deaths over the summer.

Swiss authorities reported a woman married to a Swiss diplomat was infected during a September visit to Uganda and later diagnosed in Nigeria, making it the fourth African country impacted by the outbreak. The patient was evacuated to Switzerland for treatment.

Kenya has seen rapid increases in confirmed infections, with nine cases reported and two fatalities. Twenty contacts of Kenya's first patient were released from quarantine on Monday, while 98 remain under monitoring.