Ebola outbreak: death toll surpasses 2,000

Tengrinews.kz — An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has already claimed 2,011 lives, with 4,381 confirmed cases of the virus, authorities in the African country said on Tuesday, according to Euronews.

In terms of the death toll, the current outbreak is approaching the deadliest Ebola epidemic in the DRC, which occurred in 2018–2020 and killed nearly 2,300 people out of around 3,500 cases.

The epidemic, which has affected eastern and northeastern parts of the country where armed conflicts are ongoing, was officially declared on May 15. However, the virus is believed to have already been spreading for several weeks by that time.

This is the 17th outbreak of the highly contagious disease recorded in the DRC. It is already considered the largest in the country’s history by number of infections and could become the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

According to Congolese health authorities, the fatality rate in the current outbreak stands at 45.9 percent.

Representatives of humanitarian organisations say the spread of the disease continues to outpace response measures, which are gradually being implemented in five affected eastern provinces.

A number of healthcare workers have gone on strike, protesting against the lack of payments for their work since the outbreak was declared.

Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and causes haemorrhagic fever. The virus was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.