Congo’s Ebola epidemic, already advancing at a record pace, has reached two additional health zones in the country’s east, lifting the total number of affected zones to 60, according to figures released by the government on Friday.
The newly hit areas, Biena and Manguredjipa in North Kivu province, are seeing fatality levels that outstrip the epidemic’s broader average of 48%, a gap officials attribute partly to slow response times.
National health data put the case count at 5,794, with 2,786 deaths so far, and describe the virus as outpacing containment measures.
The World Health Organization has warned the situation is no longer under control and could eventually eclipse the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, history’s deadliest, which claimed more than 11,000 lives.
Officials point to a mix of armed conflict, mass displacement, an ongoing strike by medical staff and heavy movement of people between communities as key drivers behind the virus’s rapid spread.
Vaccination of front-line medical workers began Thursday using the Ervebo shot, which has a track record against the Zaire strain responsible for earlier outbreaks. The current epidemic, however, involves the rarer Bundibugyo strain, for which no vaccine or treatment has yet won approval — though trials are in progress.
Congo declared the outbreak in mid-May, but officials suspect the virus had already been circulating since February, expanding from an initial three health zones to nearly five dozen today.
