The number of confirmed Ebola virus infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo has exceeded 7,000. The infection has spread to another province of the country. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to the latest data, the disease has been confirmed in 7,022 people across seven provinces. The outbreak has claimed the lives of 3,398 patients.
The current outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, has become the largest and deadliest in Congo's history. It has surpassed the 2018–2020 epidemic and now ranks second in the world by scale.
The largest outbreak remains the one in West Africa in 2014–2016. At that time, more than 28,600 people were infected in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and over 11,000 patients died.
The new Ebola case was detected in South Ubangi province in northwestern Congo — far from the epicenter of the infection. This territory borders the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
The Bundibugyo virus was found in a 23-year-old man who died on Tuesday. It was established that on July 10 he left South Kivu province in the east of the country, spent some time abroad, then returned to Congo and arrived in South Ubangi.
«Contact tracing is currently underway for the first confirmed case in South Ubangi province,» the report from the Congo Institute of Public Health says.
The World Health Organization previously warned that a shortage of qualified medics, operational partners and funding is hindering efforts to stop the spread of Ebola. The problems are becoming more serious as the geography of the outbreak expands.
Earlier, «Kursiv» wrote that 5,000 medical workers are lacking to fight the Ebola epidemic.