Congo’s Ebola death toll passes 1,500 as it struggles to halt spread

Core Impact Points

• The Ebola outbreak in the DRC has killed over 1,500 people, with 3,442 cases reported, a 50% increase in the death toll over the past week.
• The virus is spreading rapidly in eastern Congo's remote Ituri province, where nearly 90% of cases have been reported, due to a lack of public health resources and mistrust from communities.
• The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has attributed the sharp rise in cases to a backlog of unconfirmed or recorded cases, as well as delays in contact tracing and accessing affected areas.
• The outbreak has been exacerbated by the 'unsafe handling of infected bodies' by residents, including touching the remains of the deceased, whose bodies remain highly infectious.
• Healthcare workers in Ituri went on strike over unpaid wages and unsafe working conditions, which has impeded efforts to hold back the disease's rapid spread.
• The World Health Organization has stated that the risk of a global spread remains low due to Ebola's limited airborne transmission, but the agency is closely monitoring the situation.