The death toll from Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak has reached 600, the government said Thursday, as new suspected cases emerged in provinces that had not previously reported the disease.
Congo’s health ministry said suspected cases have now been recorded in Tshopo and Haut-Uele provinces, marking the spread of the outbreak beyond its epicenter in Ituri province. A government report published late Wednesday said two new suspected cases were identified in Kisangani, the capital of Tshopo province, while the ministry did not specify how many suspected cases had emerged in Haut-Uele. The total number of confirmed cases nationwide has reached 1,759.
One of the two suspected Tshopo cases was linked to the Nia-Nia health zone in Ituri, where the outbreak was first detected, while the other showed no apparent geographic connection to known transmission chains, according to the report. Authorities said they were investigating further.
Congo declared the outbreak on May 15, after the World Health Organization found the virus had already been spreading undetected for weeks. The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. Clinical trials for an experimental treatment began last week at a medical center in Bunia, in eastern Congo.
Containment efforts have been complicated by a funding shortfall, attacks on health facilities, and an ongoing armed conflict in eastern Congo, the region at the center of the outbreak.
