Ebola outbreak slows in parts of DR Congo but crisis remains severe

Since the outbreak was officially declared on 15 May, 7,258 cases have been confirmed, including 3,510 deaths, while 1,726 people have recovered. The virus has now reached seven provinces.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Kamba said on Saturday that the epidemic had passed its peak, pointing to a gradual slowdown in transmission since mid-August. Daily infections have fallen from around 120 new cases to nearly 80.

There are also signs of improvement in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, which accounts for 78 percent of confirmed cases. Three health zones – Adja, Kambala and Mahagi – have gone 41 days without recording a new case, health officials at the African Union said.

But the WHO has stopped short of declaring that the outbreak has peaked, warning that improvements in some areas mask sharply different trends elsewhere.

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Progress but no peak yet

“Trends at the national level do not reflect trends at the provincial or local level,” Olivier le Polain, head of the WHO's epidemiology and analysis unit, told reporters in Geneva.

Asked on Tuesday whether the outbreak had reached a turning point, le Polain remained cautious.

“It's too early to confidently say we have passed a peak.”

Ebola is spreading at an “exponential” rate in North Kivu, particularly in the city of Butembo, the WHO said. The province accounted for around 45 percent of all cases reported last week.

South Ubangi became the seventh province affected after a case was detected there last week, far from the epicentre.

The new case shows the risk of the epidemic spreading to other parts of the country as large numbers of people move around, the WHO said.

Another 5,000 health workers are needed to tackle the epidemic, the organisation estimated last week.

Several treatments and vaccines are being tested against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus behind the current outbreak, for which no approved vaccine or treatment currently exists.

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A months-long fight

Efforts to curb Ebola in eastern DR Congo are beginning to show results, UN officials said on Tuesday, but they stressed that the epidemic remains severe and will take months to bring under control.

“It remains a deadly and a massive epidemic,” UN special Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis told reporters in Geneva.

“There are some areas of progress, but nonetheless, in other areas, we continue to see growth in cases.”

(with newswires)