Congo Ebola Outbreak reaches sixth province amid rising death toll: What to know

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya reportedly announced today that Congo’s Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province following a death in the previously unaffected Bas-Uele province.

According to Kaseya, the man had traveled from Isiro in Haut-Uele province to Buta in the capital of Bas-Uele. The outbreak in eastern Congo is rapidly advancing and is projected to exceed the deadliest one in history which erupted over a decade ago and claimed the lives of over 11,000 people.

The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that there are no approved treatments for the rare Bundibugo virus responsible for the surge in the current outbreak.

The reports showed that it has killed over 2,100 people out of more than 4,500 cases; moreover, the death toll has been reached three times faster than in the 2014 and 2016.

Health authorities have cautioned that between 60% and 70% of new cases are recorded outside contacts being monitored. The recent outbreak is advancing against adversity with strikes by some unpaid health workers, and misinformation that Ebola is not real.

In this connection, the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi said: “We are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us.”

Furthermore, Ebola is rare but highly infectious and can be contracted from bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen from contaminated surfaces and materials such as clothing; the disease is considered severe and often fatal.