At least 80 deaths have been reported in Congo’s new Ebola disease outbreak in the eastern Ituri province, authorities said, as health workers raced to intensify screening and contact tracing to contain the disease on Saturday. Officials first announced the outbreak on Friday, with 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases.
In Ituri’s capital, Bunia, locals recounted their fears amid constant burials.
“Every day, people are dying … and this has been going on for about a week. In a single day, we bury two, three, or even more people,” said Jean Marc Asimwe, a resident of Bunia. “At this point, we don’t really know what kind of disease it is,” said Asimwe.
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Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said late on Friday that there have been eight laboratory-confirmed cases, among them four deaths.
Test results confirmed the Bundibugyo virus, a variant of the disease that has been less prominent in Congo’s past outbreaks. This is Congo’s 17th outbreak since Ebola first emerged in the country in 1976.
Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but severe and often fatal.