{"id":937102,"date":"2026-07-15T18:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937102\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T18:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:37:18","slug":"confirmed-ebola-cases-top-2000-in-congo-including-754-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937102\/","title":{"rendered":"Confirmed Ebola cases top 2,000 in Congo, including 754 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUNIA, Congo (AP) \u2014 The number of confirmed cases of Ebola<\/a> in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released overnight in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak on record.<\/p>\n

Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region\u2019s largest medical center, went on strike Wednesday and are the latest group to walk off the job<\/a> at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front-line workers barricaded the entrance to the hospital, claiming they have not received pay despite working under difficult conditions. <\/p>\n

The World Health Organization says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

The Central African nation has been battling the Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus<\/a> since May 15. A total of 753 patients remain in isolation or in hospitals, while 366 have recovered so far, according to data from Congo\u2019s Ministry of Health. <\/p>\n

The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track<\/a> despite an expanding response. At least 80% of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the WHO said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak\u2019s patient zero<\/a>, while displacement from armed conflict and mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.<\/p>\n

The authorities have been able to trace 67% of the contacts of those exposed to confirmed cases, Congo\u2019s health ministry said.<\/p>\n

Many of the newly reported deaths are of people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO emergencies chief, said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri, the worst-hit province in the outbreak.<\/p>\n

The response is being hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities.<\/p>\n

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center<\/a> in Rwampara, another hard-hit city in the Ituri province, went on strike over unpaid salaries<\/a> and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work on condition the government pay them within 72 hours.<\/p>\n

Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak. <\/p>\n

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Response efforts have also been challenged by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire virus for which there is a vaccine and which was responsible for most of Congo\u2019s past 16 outbreaks of the disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enrollment in a highly anticipated study<\/a> of two possible Ebola treatments recently started in Ituri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUNIA, Congo (AP) \u2014 The number of confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":937103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[3881,38508,63643,18596,94169,57,210,15006,1060,1607,67,132,68,26413,107],"class_list":["post-937102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ap-top-news","tag-compensation-and-benefits","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","tag-ebola-virus","tag-general-news","tag-health","tag-immunizations","tag-medication","tag-strikes","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-world-health-organization","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116925448052470887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}