1,707 People Have Died in the Congo Ebola Outbreak

The death toll from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak has risen above 1,700, with 1,707 deaths among 3,802 recorded cases since May 15, Al Jazeera reported.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. WHO data cited by Al Jazeera show more than 17,000 contacts are being monitored, with about 80 percent followed up each day.

The epidemic is concentrated in Ituri province in eastern DR Congo, which accounts for almost 90 percent of reported cases. Infections have also been confirmed in five other provinces, including the major city of Kisangani.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo variant. Vasee Moorthy, acting head of the WHO’s R&D Blueprint programme, told reporters in Geneva that advance planning had helped researchers begin trials sooner than in previous outbreaks. “If you compare this outbreak to previous Ebola outbreaks, we have been able to start trials more quickly,” he said. “It’s true that the preclinical data that we’re seeing is promising.”

Moorthy said only clinical trials would determine whether the experimental medicines and vaccines are effective. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was due to arrive in Kinshasa on Tuesday before travelling later in the week to Bunia, near the centre of the outbreak, while Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya was in Bunia and said it remained unclear when the outbreak would peak.

The WHO says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the outbreak began. Health officials say delays in contact tracing, armed-group violence, attacks on health facilities, poor access to affected communities, mistrust of health authorities and a funding shortfall have slowed the response. The latest outbreak has spread faster than any previous Ebola epidemic; during the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, about 28,000 people were infected and more than 11,000 were killed.