Trump announces Hamas disarmament deal as Israel objectsIran hits US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as Washington denies lossesNATO activates air defences after missile hits Polish fieldUS hits dozens of Iranian targets as Iran strikes back at Jordan and KuwaitEbola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torchedAnthropic says Claude models broke into three organisations during testsGermany counts nearly 10,000 heat deaths this yearKumamoto quake death toll rises to 35 as search of collapsed mall goes onNorth Korean missile suspected after Russian barrage kills eight in UkraineChongqing landslide death toll rises to 51Iraq-Gulf ties strained after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militiasBond yields jump after Fed holds rates steadyEgypt investigates Damietta port drone strike as Iran war draws in more statesUkrainian drones halt Ryazan refinery and Black Sea oil loadingSaudi Arabia forms multinational Red Sea shipping coalitionBig Tech AI spending climbs as Meta books $279bn in data-centre leasesRSF chief vows to retake Khartoum after battlefield setbackThree firefighters killed as blazes burn across Greece, France and SpainFirst tankers move through Hormuz again after Pakistani-brokered dealRussian missile destroys US-owned drone factory in KyivChina's Politburo promises more spending but no broad stimulusUS Senate narrowly rejects bid to halt Trump's war on IranUS signs $58.6bn Patriot deal as Ukraine turns to other alliesIBM claims start of quantum advantage eraRussia says it prevented Ukrainian strike on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantRenewables pass 40% of China's energy mix as coal falls below halfThousands of migrants enter Ceuta as Spain deploys troopsChina voices 'serious concern' over US curbs in call with BessentEU offers billions for seven AI gigafactoriesSaudi economy shrinks at fastest pace since the pandemicUS growth slows to 1.5% in the second quarterBeijing threatens countermeasures over US robot and inverter bansPakistan says it is pressing US and Iran back to the tableOil prices swing as the US-Iran war widensPLA says it is combat-ready against Taiwan independence at its 99th anniversaryIsraeli strikes kill four in Gaza, including two childrenRussia claims capture of villages in Sumy and Kharkiv regionsUS tech companies push back on proposed curbs on Chinese chips and AISamsung chip profit jumps 250-fold as AI memory runs shortChinese navy and coast guard patrol Scarborough Shoal and warn off Philippine craftKorean stocks rebound 15 percent after record routSecurity Council holds first secret straw poll on next UN chiefJapan buys yen as India sells dollars to defend the rupeeZoox wins US clearance for paid robotaxi ridesMicrosoft sets record for biggest one-day gain in market valueSaudi Arabia pushes new regional order after Iran warWildfire near Sizewell nuclear plant forces evacuations in SuffolkTrump restricts exports of waste containing critical materialsCar supply chains disrupted after quake damages Japanese parts makerChinese brain implants help paralysed patients return to workTrump announces Hamas disarmament deal as Israel objectsIran hits US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as Washington denies lossesNATO activates air defences after missile hits Polish fieldUS hits dozens of Iranian targets as Iran strikes back at Jordan and KuwaitEbola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torchedAnthropic says Claude models broke into three organisations during testsGermany counts nearly 10,000 heat deaths this yearKumamoto quake death toll rises to 35 as search of collapsed mall goes onNorth Korean missile suspected after Russian barrage kills eight in UkraineChongqing landslide death toll rises to 51Iraq-Gulf ties strained after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militiasBond yields jump after Fed holds rates steadyEgypt investigates Damietta port drone strike as Iran war draws in more statesUkrainian drones halt Ryazan refinery and Black Sea oil loadingSaudi Arabia forms multinational Red Sea shipping coalitionBig Tech AI spending climbs as Meta books $279bn in data-centre leasesRSF chief vows to retake Khartoum after battlefield setbackThree firefighters killed as blazes burn across Greece, France and SpainFirst tankers move through Hormuz again after Pakistani-brokered dealRussian missile destroys US-owned drone factory in KyivChina's Politburo promises more spending but no broad stimulusUS Senate narrowly rejects bid to halt Trump's war on IranUS signs $58.6bn Patriot deal as Ukraine turns to other alliesIBM claims start of quantum advantage eraRussia says it prevented Ukrainian strike on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantRenewables pass 40% of China's energy mix as coal falls below halfThousands of migrants enter Ceuta as Spain deploys troopsChina voices 'serious concern' over US curbs in call with BessentEU offers billions for seven AI gigafactoriesSaudi economy shrinks at fastest pace since the pandemicUS growth slows to 1.5% in the second quarterBeijing threatens countermeasures over US robot and inverter bansPakistan says it is pressing US and Iran back to the tableOil prices swing as the US-Iran war widensPLA says it is combat-ready against Taiwan independence at its 99th anniversaryIsraeli strikes kill four in Gaza, including two childrenRussia claims capture of villages in Sumy and Kharkiv regionsUS tech companies push back on proposed curbs on Chinese chips and AISamsung chip profit jumps 250-fold as AI memory runs shortChinese navy and coast guard patrol Scarborough Shoal and warn off Philippine craftKorean stocks rebound 15 percent after record routSecurity Council holds first secret straw poll on next UN chiefJapan buys yen as India sells dollars to defend the rupeeZoox wins US clearance for paid robotaxi ridesMicrosoft sets record for biggest one-day gain in market valueSaudi Arabia pushes new regional order after Iran warWildfire near Sizewell nuclear plant forces evacuations in SuffolkTrump restricts exports of waste containing critical materialsCar supply chains disrupted after quake damages Japanese parts makerChinese brain implants help paralysed patients return to work
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Symbolic image: Ebola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torchedSymbolic image

Ebola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torched

3 sources

More than 1,500 people have died of Ebola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in just over two months, according to official figures reported on Thursday. That makes it the second-deadliest outbreak on record and the fastest-killing ever documented. Arsonists have attacked at least a dozen treatment facilities as misinformation spreads.

United KingdomWorld Health Organization

Congo Ebola outbreak

What happened

Official data reported on Thursday, 30 July put the toll at 1,521 deaths from 3,442 recorded cases as of Tuesday, 28 July, a rise of roughly 50 percent in deaths within about a week. The outbreak in the east of the country has killed more than 1,500 people in just over two months, which makes it the second-deadliest on record and, by speed of killing, the fastest ever documented. The worst outbreak so far, in West Africa in 2014-2016, killed more than 11,000 people out of at least 28,000 cases, but over a far longer period. The virus involved is the Bundibugyo strain, for which no vaccine and no treatment are approved; the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency in May. The Telegraph reports that at least a dozen facilities have been attacked since Congo declared the outbreak, with arsonists setting treatment centres alight as false claims about the disease circulate. Ebola was first identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and is passed on through bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

What could happen next

The burnt clinics remove isolation capacity in exactly the areas where case numbers are climbing, and with no licensed vaccine or drug against the Bundibugyo strain, containment rests on contact tracing and isolating patients, both of which require communities to cooperate with responders. British scientists are developing a vaccine against this sub-strain using the technology behind the AstraZeneca Covid-19 shot, but nothing from that work is available in the field. The jump of about half in recorded deaths in a single week is the newest figure in the outbreak, and the next official update will show whether that pace holds. Whether responders can rebuild the destroyed centres, and under what protection, will shape the next weeks.

Worth reading

Sources

New York TimesThe TelegraphBreitbart

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