The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported that confirmed Ebola cases have reached 1,307, including 377 deaths, according to an update issued late Monday by the country's health ministry.
The confirmed cases have been recorded in three provinces – Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. However, the AFP news agency reported that a case has been detected in a fourth province, Haut-Uele, which borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
A source at the DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) told AFP that the viral hemorrhagic fever spread to Haut-Uele after an infected person traveled from Bunia, the capital of Ituri, to Haut-Uele. That person has since died, another health source confirmed.
Authorities are now tracing the chain of transmission and identifying contacts. The spread to Haut-Uele means the entire northeastern region of the DRC, home to about 15 million people, is now affected.
The conflict-hit province of Ituri remains the epicenter of the country’s 17th Ebola outbreak, which began in May. In many cases, the virus has spread at funerals, where the highly infectious bodies of Ebola victims are handled.
For weeks, aid workers have struggled to plan safe burials in affected areas due to mistrust among local communities. In the DRC, funerals often last several days, during which family members and friends touch the body of the deceased.
Reporting from a treatment center in Rwampara, Ituri province, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Wambua-Soi said health workers often lack sufficient equipment. “These centers have been attacked several times. Last month, tents here were set on fire by an angry mob. Some Congolese still distrust those trying to help,” she said.
On Saturday, the government issued a ban on public gatherings in four provinces, including the capital Kinshasa, as it continues to battle the outbreak. The order was issued before a planned protest on July 8 against constitutional reform, and opposition figures have called the ban “politically motivated.”
Source: www.aljazeera.com