&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Epidemic is outpacing us': WHO chief says countries neighbouring DR Congo at 'high risk' from Ebola")
Countries surrounding the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) face a serious threat from the rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak and must take urgent preventive measures, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
Addressing a virtual ministerial meeting on the outbreak, Tedros warned that the virus was spreading faster than containment efforts and said he would travel to the DRC on Tuesday as the country remained the centre of the crisis.
“Countries bordering DRC are at especially high risk and should take immediate action,” Tedros said.
Health officials said the disease, which spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, can trigger severe bleeding, organ failure and death in serious cases.
Tedros described the situation as particularly difficult due to delays in detecting the outbreak and worsening security conditions in eastern Congo.
“First, the delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic. We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us,” he said.
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“Secondly, the eastern provinces of the DRC, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May, are highly insecure, with intensified fighting in recent months, and there is also significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population,” Tedros added.
WHO says no approved vaccine exists for current Ebola strain
The WHO chief further warned that there were currently no approved vaccines or treatments available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the latest outbreak.
According to WHO figures, at least 10 confirmed deaths and 220 suspected deaths have been recorded in the DRC since mid-May. Authorities have also identified nearly 900 suspected infections since the outbreak was officially declared on May 15.
The United Nations health agency said the actual spread of the virus could be significantly wider, with experts suspecting the outbreak may have circulated undetected for some time.
Neighbouring Uganda has already reported one confirmed Ebola death and six confirmed infections, including two new cases announced on Monday.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has also warned that 10 additional African countries, including Angola, Rwanda and Tanzania, remain at risk from the outbreak.
Tedros said WHO was deploying financial aid, medical supplies and health workers to support Congolese authorities while accelerating clinical trials for potential treatments.
“It will get worse before it gets better,” he said. “But we know this virus, and we know how to stop it.”
