The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest number of confirmed cases within the first month of any episode of the disease, a senior World Health Organisation official told a briefing on Tuesday, June 23, blaming the surge on its quick spread to urban areas.
The Bundibugyo outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has infected over 1,000 people and killed 267 was detected late, and experts say the virus had already been circulating for months before it was officially declared on May 15.
WHO’s Abdirahman Mahamud told a press briefing in Geneva that part of the reason for the scale of the outbreak was that some early confirmed cases were in urban centres, like Bunia and the mining town of Mongbwalu.
Many past outbreaks have first been identified in rural areas and often petered out quickly.
“What is important is we need to scale up, and this outbreak is moving faster than us,” he told reporters after returning from Bunia last week.
He noted signs of hope, highlighting a quick increase in the number of Ebola beds to over 500 in the past fortnight and signs that community resistance and violent resistance to Ebola responders were beginning to abate.
“More and more communities are aware of the risk of Ebola and are asking for tools to support and protect themselves,” he said.
