WHO chief warns Ebola response must ramp up to stem DRC outbreak

Number of people killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo from disease exceeds 3,000 amid response funding gap.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that every transmission chain needs to be identified and broken if the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to be contained.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that until every chain is broken, the epidemic “will continue ⁠to pose a threat ⁠to [the] DRC, ⁠its neighbours and the region as a whole”.

The number of people killed in the DRC by the disease exceeded 3,000 on Wednesday, according to official government data.

The outbreak is the fastest-growing in history, as well as the deadliest and largest the DRC has ever experienced. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned that efforts to contain the virus are “below established response targets” and that the majority of cases are occurring outside of known contacts, comprising up to 80 percent of new cases.

Response efforts have been further complicated by conflict in the DRC’s mineral-rich regions, poor infrastructure, strikes by unpaid healthcare workers and cultural traditions, including burial practices, that have contributed to the spread of Ebola.

On Wednesday, Tedros said that it remained unclear how many individuals came in contact with the virus prior to their deaths.

“That means there ⁠are chains of transmission we don’t know about,” he said.

The response to the outbreak is also severely lacking in funds, which has only compounded the crisis, with the United Nations agency scrambling to reduce a funding gap of more than $1bn, the WHO chief said.

“We know that we are ‌making this request at a time when financing for humanitarian assistance has contracted, and when there are many other competing priorities. But as ‌we ‌know from previous Ebola outbreaks, we can control this epidemic if we choose to,” Tedros added.

Meanwhile, a DRC official told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that schools in areas worst-hit by Ebola reopened this week, despite plans to shift to remote learning.

The official, who has not been named, said remote learning was shelved after authorities concluded that it would severely hinder students’ learning, posing a greater risk than Ebola itself.

The viral strain fuelling the outbreak is known as Bundibugyo, for which there is currently no approved treatment or vaccine.

Vaccine trials are currently underway, with the intention of immediately rolling out the jab if any prove effective.