LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Health Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Samuel Roger Kamba, has reported a sharp increase in the number of deaths linked to the Ebola outbreak, revealing 131 estimated deaths from 513 suspected cases while the virus spreads into Uganda.
The latest figures reveals a significant increase from earlier reports that recorded 91 deaths out of 350 suspected cases.
The escalating crisis has pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” prompting emergency global health measures.
Speaking at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” especially after confirmed spread into neighboring Uganda.
“Early on Sunday, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over an epidemic of Ebola disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
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This prompted the WHO to schedule an emergency committee meeting to review the worsening outbreak.
The committee, made up of international health experts, is expected to provide technical recommendations on response strategies, including possible vaccine options.
Health officials say the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a dangerous variant with a fatality rate of up to 50 percent.
Unlike the Zaire strain, there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo Ebola.
Therefore, Health Minister Kamba cautioned that the reported death figure remains provisional pending further investigations to confirm whether all suspected deaths were directly linked to Ebola.
The Ituri province in northeastern DRC near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan, remains the epicenter of the outbreak.
The area’s strong gold-mining activity led to heavy cross-border movement, raising fears of wider transmission.
Additionally, the virus has already spread to neighboring provinces located up to 200 kilometers from the identified outbreak center and beyond the DRC’s borders.
According to the WHO, the first known suspected case involved a health worker who developed symptoms on April 24 before later dying at a medical facility in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
The agency said it received an alert on May 5 about an “unknown illness” causing a high number of deaths in the region.
Following investigations by a rapid response team on May 13, laboratory tests confirmed the outbreak as the Bundibugyo strain on May 15.
Although no approved vaccine currently exists for this strain, experts are reviewing possible alternatives.
READ ALSO: First Health Worker Dies In Latest Ebola Outbreak In Uganda
Ervebo, a vaccine developed by Merck for the Zaire strain of Ebola, has shown some protective effect against Bundibugyo in animal studies.
The Acting Director of the science department at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Mosoka Fallah noted, “When you have an outbreak with a strain that does not have countermeasures, we are going to advise on the best approach to take. We will look at what evidence we have and make a decision.”
To strengthen the response, the WHO confirmed that 12 tonnes of emergency supplies had being delivered to the DRC, with an additional six tonnes sent to protect frontline health workers.
The outbreak has also triggered international travel concerns with nations placing travel bans and closing borders.
Ultimately, the Africa CDC criticized the ban and travel restrictions linked to the outbreak, warning that such measures could damage economies and disrupt lives across the region.
