Symbolic imageCongo's Ebola toll passes 2,000 as deaths accelerate
More than 2,000 people have died in Congo's Ebola outbreak, government figures released on Tuesday show. It is the fastest-spreading outbreak the country has recorded.
Congolese authorities reported 2,011 deaths among 4,381 confirmed cases on Tuesday, 11 August, less than three months after the outbreak was declared on 15 May. Deaths passed 1,000 on 22 July, about nine weeks in; the next thousand took roughly three weeks. Officials put the case fatality rate at 45.9 percent. Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said the peak has not been reached, but expects the spread to slow within three months.
No vaccine for this variant
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo variant, for which no vaccine or specific treatment is approved. WHO experts recommended on Friday moving straight to a phase 3 trial of Ervebo, the only licensed Ebola vaccine; Gavi will supply doses from the global stockpile it finances.
Most patients die at home
WHO Africa director Mohamed Janabi said on Monday in Bunia that responders see only 30 percent of the infected while 70 percent die in their communities. Sequencing showed the virus circulating since February, with early cases mistaken for malaria or typhoid; armed groups and mistrust continue to slow the response.
Other opinions
TASS foregrounds the four-month detection delay and unpaid response workers in Kisangani, citing Radio Okapi; Le Monde highlights the planned vaccine trial.