The death toll from the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has risen above 1,300, with government figures showing a sharp increase of more than 40 percent in just five days.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, updated government data released on Saturday showed that the total number of confirmed Ebola cases, including deaths, had reached 2,973 as of Thursday, representing a 27 percent increase from the previous week.
The rapid rise in infections and fatalities has made the outbreak one of the fastest spreading Ebola epidemics ever recorded.
The outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, one of the rarest of the four known Ebola variants that affect humans. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments specifically available for the strain.
Public health consultant Abdulsalami Nasidi, who helped establish the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told Al Jazeera that the absence of a proven vaccine was allowing the virus to spread rapidly.
Nasidi also warned that the outbreak was occurring in an area affected by active conflict, further worsening the shortage of health resources and limiting access to affected communities.
Scientists are racing to develop measures to contain the epidemic. The University of Oxford’s Oxford Vaccine Group said a volunteer received the first dose of a rapidly developed experimental vaccine on Friday.
The outbreak has also severely affected healthcare workers. More than 100 health workers have reportedly been infected since the epidemic was declared in May, while about 35 have died.
In Ituri Province, the epicentre of the outbreak, healthcare workers have staged strikes over unpaid wages and unsafe working conditions. At the Elikya Ebola Treatment Centre in Bunia, about 100 workers reportedly protested, warning that unpaid allowances were affecting morale and disrupting patient care.
The crisis has been further complicated by insecurity, public distrust and attacks on medical facilities. A section of an Ebola treatment centre near Bunia was reportedly set ablaze in May by angry residents who also chased health workers from the facility.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the actual number of Ebola cases could be more than twice the official figure, as insecurity continues to prevent health officials from reaching some affected communities.
The Africa CDC Director General, Jean Kaseya, has also urged immediate action to prevent the outbreak from becoming the worst Ebola epidemic ever recorded.
The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history occurred between 2013 and 2016, when more than 11,000 people died from over 28,000 cases, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That outbreak took about eight months to record its first 1,000 deaths, while the latest DRC epidemic has reached the same milestone in less than 10 weeks.
The World Health Organization has called for a ceasefire in the conflict affected areas of eastern DRC, arguing that medical intervention alone will not be enough to contain the outbreak without improved security and access for health responders.
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