DR Congo Ebola cases pass 9,000 as efforts to curb transmission falter

The Bundibugyo strain fuels deadliest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo’s history as health workers face mistrust from communities.

Confirmed Ebola cases have surpassed 9,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) outbreak, according to Health Ministry data, as efforts to stifle transmission falter.

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has become the largest and deadliest in the DRC’s history. Globally, the toll is only second to the 2014 to 2016 West African epidemic, which saw 28,600 confirmed cases and more than 11,000 deaths across Guinea, ⁠⁠Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Last week, Kenya reported its first imported case in which a Kenyan national who lived in the DRC travelled through Uganda before reaching Nairobi, where he died.

The current outbreak in the DRC was announced in mid-May, but some experts suspect it began as early as February. The virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, has spread to seven provinces in the north and east.

A local politician in eastern DRC was beaten to death in September after he defended the government’s Ebola response on the radio, according to his political party.