Kinshasa: Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have risen to 2,973, including 1,309 deaths.
Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka warned on Friday that the outbreak could further aggravate the humanitarian crisis in the eastern DRC, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Speaking on Friday in Bunia, the capital of the eastern Ituri Province and the epicentre of the outbreak, Suminwa said the government has disbursed 50 million US dollars for the response, in addition to funds mobilised by international partners.
She said logistical resources need to be delivered and deployed more rapidly across the expanding outbreak zone.
“The issue now is how to ensure that all the logistics are taken care of,” she said, citing laboratory equipment, water and oxygen supplies, ambulances, hygiene materials, and equipment for safe and dignified burials.
She also called for greater vigilance at displacement sites to prevent the epidemic from further aggravating the humanitarian crisis in Ituri and other parts of the eastern DRC.
According to the latest situation report released by the country’s health authorities on Saturday, a total of 540 patients have recovered since the outbreak began, while 766 people remain in isolation or hospitalisation.
The report said the epidemic remains in a phase of sustained transmission, with a high level of virus circulation. It warned that recent fluctuations in reported cases should be interpreted cautiously because of reporting delays and the progressive consolidation of data.
The report also showed that 123 health workers and other frontline personnel have been infected, including 36 who have died.
The prime minister said researchers were working to develop a treatment and a vaccine against the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, the virus strain responsible for the current outbreak in the DRC.
Expressing hope that a vaccine and treatment could become available “within two to four months,” she said the government has provided funding for the research but did not give further details on the development stage or expected approval process.
There is currently no approved vaccine or specifically licensed treatment for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus. Several experimental vaccines and therapeutics are undergoing clinical evaluation.
The University of Oxford announced on Friday that the first volunteer has been vaccinated in the world’s first human trial of a vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 BDBV, designed to protect against the Bundibugyo ebolavirus.
Declared on May 15, the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, has spread across Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo provinces in the DRC.
(IANS)
