KINSHASA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) less than three months after the outbreak was declared, while the epidemic has yet to reach its peak and continues to outpace efforts to contain it.
The country has recorded 4,381 confirmed cases, including 2,011 deaths, according to the latest figures released Tuesday by local health authorities. Cases have been reported in 53 health zones across Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo provinces, with Ituri remaining the epicenter.
OVER 1,000 DEATHS IN LESS THAN A MONTH
The Ebola outbreak is escalating at an alarming rate in the DRC, with the confirmed deaths surpassing 1,000 in late July. The toll nearly doubled in just three weeks.
"Today the Ebola epidemic surpassed 2,000 deaths, half of these in the last 20 days," United Nations Senior Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis said Tuesday on social media, urging governments, aid organizations, donors and communities to "do more, and do it today."
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned that in the DRC, this epidemic "dwarfed prior Ebola events," including the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak.
"After 12 weeks, it's almost nine times more than the West Africa outbreak in terms of confirmed cases, and six times more than the West Africa outbreak in terms of deaths," Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said at an online briefing on Aug. 6.
The rapid increase has been compounded by evidence that the virus may have been circulating for months before authorities recognized the outbreak.
The DRC formally declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15. However, genetic sequencing studies indicate that transmission may have begun as early as February, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Yakub Janabi said on Monday during a visit to Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province.
"We are chasing the virus. The virus is ahead of us," Janabi said.
According to the Africa CDC, only about 10 percent of expected contacts have been listed, while roughly 70 percent of those identified are being followed, well below the operational target of 95 percent.
UPCOMING MONTHS COULD BE DECISIVE
DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba recently told local media that the epidemic "has not yet reached its peak," and the coming months would be critical to slowing transmission and eventually bringing case numbers down.
Kamba said treatment centers in several affected areas still have available capacity, yet Ebola patients continue to remain in communities and, in some cases, seek medical care only when their condition has become severe, with community deaths complicating contact tracing and increasing the risk of further transmission.
Against that backdrop, the government and its partners are shifting toward a more aggressive community-based strategy.
Following a high-level meeting chaired by the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi on Aug. 5, the government called for a "village-centered" response, increasing community participation and bringing protection, care and information closer to affected populations.
The Africa CDC has said conventional contact tracing alone is no longer sufficient given the scale of unrecognized transmission. Response teams are therefore seeking to expand active case finding, including door-to-door searches by community health workers, while strengthening surveillance, treatment and engagement with local leaders.
Meanwhile, scientists are racing to add vaccines and therapeutics to the response.
The outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus, a less common Ebola virus species for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
A WHO technical advisory group said in a report published on Aug. 7 that the Ervebo vaccine, which was developed to target Zaire virus, should be prioritized for inclusion in a randomized clinical trial in the context of the ongoing outbreak.
WHO Representative in the DRC Anne Ancia said that a large population in North Kivu got vaccinated with Ervebo during the country's 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak.
Information showed that previously vaccinated health workers infected with the Bundibugyo virus during the current outbreak survived and appeared to develop milder illness, she said, suggesting a possible cross-protective effect that still needs to be confirmed through further studies.
The current outbreak is the DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in the country in 1976. It has become the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the country and the second-largest globally, behind only the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, according to the WHO. ■
