More than 4,000 cases of Ebola have been confirmed, making it the world’s second-largest Ebola epidemic on record
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for an urgent scale-up of resources in the fight against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), warning that the outbreak of the disease in some regions is ‘outpacing our response’.
In recent days the DRC has reported more than 4,000 confirmed Ebola cases, with over 1,800 deaths across 51 health zones in five provinces.
Contract tracing and follow-up has occurred in 75 per cent of cases, below the operational target of at least 95 per cent required to identify transmission chains rapidly and ensure that new cases are detected among known contacts.
The call for more action came after heads of the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) visited Bunia and Kinshasa in DRC and Kampala in Uganda.
“In some areas of eastern DRC, the Ebola outbreak is outpacing our response, making it imperative that we rapidly scale up every aspect of our efforts to contain it,” said WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We stand in solidarity with the Government, affected communities, and the courageous health workers serving under exceptionally difficult circumstances. But this must be backed by sustained commitment, greater resources, and stronger international support. Together, we must guarantee safe access for responders, protect civilians and health workers, and mobilize the support needed to end this outbreak and save lives.”
Both the WHO and Africa CDC called for a range of measures to be implemented including the urgent expansion of treatment, laboratory, ambulance and safe and dignified burial capacity.
They also said that infection prevention and control in health facilities should be strengthened while access to areas affected by insecurity and poor infrastructure need to be improved.
“Containing and ultimately stopping this outbreak will come from communities,” said Dr Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC. “When people have information they trust, can report symptoms early and seek care without fear, we can break every chain of transmission. Our responsibility is to bring the response closer to communities and give frontline teams the support they need.”
In its latest update on the outbreak, Ireland’s Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC) said the country was prepared should a case of Ebola emerge here, but the likelihood of this happening remains low.
“Ireland has prior experience managing Ebola-related preparedness as part of international public health collaboration,” the HPSC statement said.
“There are established High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCIDs) clinical pathways, including isolation, infection prevention and control (IPC) and transfer protocols remain in place and are under continuous review.
“Preparedness for HCIDs has been further strengthened in recent months, including enhanced operational readiness following recent public health events i.e. Hantavirus.
“The National Virus Reference Laboratory has capacity for testing and established arrangements with EU reference laboratories and counterparts in the UK to ensure enhanced testing capacity, as required.”
The statement added: “Ireland is well prepared to manage an imported case of Ebola, should this occur. However, the current risk level remains low and there are robust surveillance systems, international coordination, and HCID preparedness measures in place to ensure an effective response if needed.”