Follow-Up: Congo Ebola Deaths Top 5,000, With 10,351 Infected and a Third of the Dead Never Reached Care

Deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak have topped 5,000, reaching 5,026 out of 10,351 people infected, a lethality rate of nearly 50 percent, according to the latest data released by Congo's Ministry of Health on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared in mid-May and caught authorities by surprise. The virus has no known vaccine or treatment, and health workers care for patients based on symptoms. So far 2,788 people have recovered. It is already the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, behind only the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which killed 11,000 people across multiple countries.

The virus has been concentrated in eastern Congo: Ituri and North Kivu provinces are the epicenters, with 9,782 confirmed cases and 4,792 deaths between them. Since May, the disease has spread to 67 of the country's 178 health zones in eight of its 26 provinces, and 50 of those zones still have active cases.

Two warning signs stand out. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 80 percent of new cases are coming from outside the chain of monitored contacts, meaning most infections come from transmission chains unknown to health authorities. Dr. Patrick Otim, a programme area manager with the World Health Organization, said about one-third of recorded deaths were people who died outside treatment centers, before being tested for Ebola.

'It is a very tragic milestone because it is just not a number,' Otim said. 'It is families and communities that have been devastated by this outbreak. The number also shows the severity of this outbreak.' He added: 'These are people we never had opportunity to try to save them and it is one of the biggest concerns for us in this outbreak. How do we try to reach people early to get them to come to health facilities to get a fighting chance to survive?'

Frontline care is also under strain. On Friday, workers at an Ebola treatment center in Tchomia, in Ituri, downed tools demanding four months of unpaid wages; the center currently cares for five confirmed patients and 10 suspected cases. 'We are tired of requesting our salaries. If they want to pay us, they will. … Today, being able to feed our families has become a real problem,' Moise Mugenyi, one of the striking workers, told the AP. Dr. Justin Mukonkole, acting head of response operations in Ituri, urged the workers to be patient while the government responds. Conflict in eastern Congo between the government and armed groups — most prominently the Rwanda-backed M23 — and attacks on health workers and facilities have further limited the reach of the response.

On cross-border spread, Kenya confirmed eight cases and two deaths in October, while Nigeria's sole confirmed case was evacuated to Switzerland. Together with earlier cases in Uganda, the outbreak is the first recorded in three African regions and the continent's most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak.

Related: Follow-Up: Congo Ebola Cases Reach 10,274 With 4,992 Deaths; Chinese Nationals Urged to Leave Four High-Risk Provinces

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：埃博拉治疗单元内景（资料图，2014年摄于 Liberia 的 Monrovia 医护人员治疗单元）。美国陆军发布，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Inside an Ebola treatment unit (file photo, Monrovia Medical Unit, Liberia, 2014). U.S. Army photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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