LAGOS, Nigeria. (Voice Of Naija) The death toll from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has surpassed 3,000, making it the second-deadliest Ebola epidemic ever recorded worldwide.
It ranks behind only the catastrophic 2014 to 2016 West African outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Congo’s Ministry of Health confirmed Wednesday that 3,007 people had died and 6,186 cases had been confirmed since the outbreak was formally declared in Ituri province on May 15, though some health officials and experts believe the outbreak may have begun as early as January, meaning the true case count could be significantly higher.
According to PM News Nigeria, the fatality rate stands at a devastating 48.6 per cent, with young children recording particularly high mortality.
A further 830 people are currently being treated or isolated, while 1,409 have recovered.
The outbreak has now surpassed the 2018 to 2020 North Kivu epidemic, which killed more than 2,200 people and was previously Congo’s worst on record in both confirmed cases and deaths.
It has since spread to six of Congo’s provinces, despite months of effort by Congolese authorities, the World Health Organisation and international aid groups to contain it.
The strain driving the current outbreak is the Bundibugyo virus, one of the rarer Ebola species for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment. That absence has fundamentally complicated the response.
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The Ervebo vaccine, which has been proven effective against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, is being assessed for potential cross-protection against Bundibugyo, but its effectiveness against this strain remains unproven.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that 70,000 doses of Ervebo are being made available, with more than 16,000 already delivered, 20,000 earmarked for a Phase III clinical trial and 50,000 intended for healthcare workers and frontline personnel.
CNBC Africa confirmed that the first vaccinations under the trial have already been administered.
Clinical trials of two antiviral treatments have been ongoing since early July. Initial laboratory and animal studies suggest some potential cross-protection from existing treatments, but no conclusive results have been published.
The response effort faces obstacles that go beyond the absence of a proven vaccine.
Weak surveillance systems, widespread insecurity driven by armed group activity across eastern Congo and deep community resistance rooted in historical mistrust of outside health workers have hampered efforts to identify and treat patients before the disease progresses.
The WHO estimates that around 60 per cent of deaths are occurring outside treatment centres, meaning the majority of patients are dying in communities before they can reach care.
Uganda has separately reported 20 confirmed cases since May, indicating the outbreak has already crossed an international border.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that WHO, Africa CDC, national authorities and partners were “committed to supporting strengthened surveillance, rapid detection, quality care, community engagement and vaccination efforts.”
For Nigeria, which successfully contained its own 2014 Ebola outbreak through aggressive contact tracing, rapid isolation and sustained public health communication, the Congo crisis is both a warning and an obligation.
Nigeria shares a continent and multiple trade and migration routes with the DRC. With the outbreak already in six provinces and confirmed in Uganda, the risk of further geographic spread is real.
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control must maintain active surveillance at all entry points, and Nigeria’s voice as Africa’s most populous nation must be heard loudly at the AU and WHO, calling for a surge in resources to bring this outbreak under control before it becomes a continental emergency.
