The number of people who died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has crossed 2,000, government data showed on Friday, reported Reuters.
The DRC government team overseeing the Ebola situation reported that the number of confirmed and probable Ebola cases had reached above 3,000 in what has become the second-worst epidemic of the virus on record. The latest data released on Friday showed Ebola deaths reaching 2,006 and cases at 3,004.
Despite the development of effective Ebola vaccine and treatments, it has been difficult for health workers to control the spread of the disease in remote and conflict-hit areas of eastern Congo due to insecurity and people’s suspicions of treatments.
“For the treatments to work, people need to trust them and the medical staff who administer them,” the International Federation of the Red Cross said in a statement. “This will take time, resources and a lot of hard work.”
The latest outbreak in DRC is the second-largest on record. The 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been deadlier with more than 11,300 deaths and 28,000 reported cases.
The World Health Organization has called the situation one of the world’s “most complex humanitarian crises”. In July it was declared an international emergency.
Uganda on Thursday reported a new case Ebola case, a nine-year-old girl who had crossed the border from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ugandan health ministry confirmed that the girl with Ebola was isolated and transferred to an Ebola treatment unit where she later died. The mother and daughter crossed into Uganda through the Mpondwe border post in Kasese District, the same district that reported the three earlier cases. The mother was put into an isolation unit until she can be repatriated.
Two Ebola cases were reported in Uganda in June. A Ugandan man and his Congolese wife lost two sons after their return from a trip to DR Congo to see relatives.
