Congo’s Ebola outbreak records one of its highest weekly death tolls yet

Bunia, Congo - The Ebola outbreak ravaging eastern Congo has claimed over 300 lives in the past week, representing one of the highest weekly death tolls yet, according to government data released on Monday. As of Saturday, the outbreak had recorded a total of 5,514 cases and 2,642 deaths, with 317 of those fatalities occurring during the preceding seven days.

However, Congolese health experts have suggested that the outbreak may be three times larger than the known figures, owing to its rapid spread and the fact that many victims succumb outside of treatment centers.

This is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in recorded history, with the current death rate seven times higher than during the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which remains the deadliest in history with over 11,000 fatalities. The outbreak's epicenter, Ituri province, accounts for most new cases, but a significant proportion of infections still originate from outside of monitored contacts.

Nearly half of all infected individuals have died, with a fatality rate of 47.9%; however, fatality rates are even higher in remote regions such as North Kivu province, where 68.6% of those infected have perished.

One of the greatest challenges in combating the outbreak is the absence of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus responsible for the spread. On Friday, Congo received more than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has proven effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type of virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) intends to use the vaccine in clinical trials for a Bundibugyo virus vaccine as well.