By Daniel Itai.
Kinshasa, DRC. – (News of The South) According to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s ministry of health, at least 2 231 people have died due to Ebola.
Deadly unrest in the country has hampered the fight against the virus. Health workers and health centres are constantly being attaked by armed rebels.
“Cases continue spreading, including particularly worrisome community deaths that occur outside of medically secure areas.
Continued bursts of violence that target health teams are also very concerning,” said microbiologist, Jean-Jacques Muyembe who is also the head of the Ebola Outbreak Efforts.
The virus is believed to be animal-borne. So far, samples from 10 000 bats have been taken.
Scientists have found the Marburg virus, which is from the same filovirus family as Ebola, but not Ebola.
“Significant advances have been made in understanding how to combat the virus, although the unique problems of this outbreak have so far stymied efforts to stamp it out completely,” added Muyembe.
The current Ebola epidemic is the second deadliest on record since a 2014-16 outbreak struck west Africa, killing more than 11 300 people.
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