DR Congo Ebola epidemic passes 6,000 cases
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The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded more than 6,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,000 deaths from the country's worst Ebola epidemic ever, according to the Congolese authorities' latest toll on Monday.
Since being declared in mid-May, the latest bout of the viral hemorrhagic fever has surpassed a 2018–2020 outbreak to become the deadliest in the vast central African country's history.
The current epidemic is being caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment exists.
It rapidly spread across six provinces in the DRC's restive north and east, plagued by a plethora of armed groups fueling long-running violence in the mineral-rich region.
According to Monday's toll from the Congolese health authorities, 2,911 people have died, while 1,366 more have recovered out of the 6,041 cases confirmed since the epidemic began.
The response to the epidemic, already underfinanced, has struggled to keep up with the explosion in cases.
With the state having long been absent in many parts of the epidemic's epicenter in the eastern DRC, health workers have also had to contend with distrust of the authorities among some in the affected communities.
According to the Congolese health authorities, the Bundibugyo variant often causes apparently mild symptoms in its initial stage, which complicates detection.
Most of the DRC's previous Ebola epidemics have been caused by the Zaire strain of the virus. Several vaccines and treatments are currently being tested to see whether they are effective against the Bundibugyo strain.
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