NGO warns Ebola epidemic is 'outpacing' response efforts in DRC

Despite a massive scale-up in the response to the deadly outbreak declared in the vast central African country, the medical charity MSF (Doctors without Borders), said the true scale of the crisis remained unclear.

This strain is centred on the DRC's northeastern Ituri province, with cases also detected in North and South Kivu provinces.

"One month on, the Ebola disease outbreak is outpacing the response effort," Kate White, MSF's emergency medical coordinator in the DRC, said in a statement on Monday. "No-one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading," she added.

In Bunia, the capital of Ituri, young men are constantly digging new graves, RFI's special envoy reported. Janvier Sambabocu, the deputy representative of the largest cemetery in Bunia, said he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of burials. "Each day, almost ten bodies arrive. Before, it was three, four," he told RFI. At the Nyamurongo cemetery, new graves have been dug every day since the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic.

MSF insists that most treatment centres in Ituri province are overwhelmed.

"Many of our patients arrive at a late stage of the disease, and the majority were never identified or monitored as contacts before seeking care," according to White.

So far, 782 Ebola cases, including 181 deaths, have been confirmed in the DRC, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. Another 19 cases, including two deaths, have been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda.

MSF warned the true numbers were likely significantly higher.

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Insecurity and lack of funds

The disease is spreading in areas facing major insecurity, which has made it difficult to reach some of the affected communities, MSF said, adding that "even in more stable areas, efforts to detect cases, test patients, identify contacts, and monitor transmission are insufficient".

Testing remains one of the most significant weaknesses in the response. But treatment centres face "significant delays" in receiving laboratory results.

Meanwhile, in North Kivu, only one laboratory is able to test blood samples, MSF said.

"Without faster and more widely available testing, we will struggle to detect cases early enough to contain the outbreak," White warned.

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Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.

Experts have cautioned that without urgent action, the current outbreak could eventually risk rivalling the scale of the 2014 west Africa epidemic, which saw over 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths.

But no approved vaccines or treatments exist for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus responsible for the current outbreak.

The virus spreads through close contact and bodily fluids, and can cause a fatal haemorrhagic fever. It is believed to have been spreading under the radar for weeks before the outbreak was declared.

 (with newswires)