Ebola fight in DRC ‘far from over,’ warns WHO chief

Despite “encouraging signs” in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), efforts to wipe out the virus in the east of the country are “far from over”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In an online news conference, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists cases were surging in North Kivu province as officials raced to control the spread of “many outbreaks in many places”.

Tedros said the number of weekly cases had doubled over the past two weeks from 100 to more than 200 cases in North Kivu.

“The area is so vast that it’s hard to speak of a single epidemic,” Tedros added.

Tedros said that transmission was declining in the worst-affected areas of Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, while South Kivu has not reported any new cases since May.

“But make no mistake, the epidemic continues to grow and continues to kill”, Tedros warned.

Vaccine hopes

Battling the outbreak has been complicated by the emergence of a rare strain of Ebola known as the Bundibugyo virus, which has no known cure.

WHO said treatment trials and the development of post-exposure prophylaxis were picking up speed.

More than 3,000 healthcare and front-line workers had already been vaccinated with Merck’s Ervebo, said Meg Doherty, WHO’s director of science, research, evidence and quality for health.

Ervebo ⁠is licensed against Zaire ebolavirus, but its effectiveness against the Bundibugyo strain, driving the current outbreak, is ⁠not known.

More than 7,200 cases and more than 3,500 deaths have been reported across seven provinces since the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May.