toll

Burning of a Ebola-hit transit camp sends 19,000 fleeing, illustrating the difficulties of controlling epidemic.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has now killed more than 4,000 people, according to government data, making it the worst epidemic in the country’s history.

Figures released on Friday showed that the death toll has risen to 4,018, and confirmed cases had ⁠reached 8,300 across seven provinces, as the government continues to struggle to contain the outbreak.

Weak infrastructure, the remoteness of the region in eastern DRC, and ongoing conflict with armed groups near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda have hindered efforts to respond to cases quickly and effectively.

The United Nations reported on Friday that an Ebola-hit camp housing a transit centre for infected patients was burned by soldiers earlier this week as they were looking for weapons on the outskirts of Bunia, capital city of Ituri Province, which is at the epicentre of the outbreak.

The incident forced 19,000 people to flee the camp.

“The enormous challenge of halting the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just became even harder after a key transit centre for patients requiring treatment burned down in Ituri province,” the UN said.

People’s mistrust and anger towards health workers and authorities have also contributed to the obstacles the government faces in its efforts to contain the outbreak.

A senior ‌member of DRC’s governing Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party was beaten to death days ago after taking part ⁠in a radio programme to raise awareness about the epidemic.

The attack on Marie-Celestin Karondwa, a local official with UDPS, took place last Sunday at his home in Butembo, an Ebola hotspot in the eastern North Kivu province. His house was set on fire afterwards, and he died at hospital from his injuries.

The World Health Organization has warned that the epidemic is “far from over” and on track to surpass the regional 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, the current epidemic became the largest and deadliest in the DRC after surpassing the 2018-2020 epidemic.

Several treatments and vaccines are being trialled against Bundibugyo, but currently, there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

The current outbreak, which is the DRC’s 17th, has spread rapidly since it was officially declared on May 15.

More than ⁠2,000 patients have recovered from the Ebola epidemic so far. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest news conference that the number of confirmed cases is falling, although that could be attributed to insecurity and challenges in getting communities to cooperate in some of the hotspots.

50,000 frontline staff to receive a jab for a different Ebola strain, with 20,000 enrolled in a one-year clinical trial.

Health workers in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun to receive a vaccine that many hope will provide a level of protection against the Ebola virus.

The vaccine rollout started on Saturday in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in the northeastern DRC. Ituri is the epicentre of the fastest-growing outbreak of Ebola in history.

The provincial governor, Major-General Gaby Kasongo Mulumba, said health workers there “are particularly exposed and deeply involved in the response”.

The operation, backed by the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, will also target North Kivu, where cases have been rising sharply, health authorities said.

Some 50,000 health and other frontline workers will be injected with the Ervebo vaccine, which was developed for use against the more common Zaire strain.

Its effectiveness against the current Ebola strain caused by the Bundibugyo virus will be monitored in 20,000 recipients for up to one year.

Clinical trials are ongoing to find a licensed vaccine for the latest outbreak, which has no licensed vaccine or proven treatment.

“We don’t know to what degree it might be effective against the Bundibugyo strain,” Steve Ahuka, a Congolese official who is part of the health task force against the Ebola outbreak, said.

Dr Jeannot Elua said at a health facility in Bunia the vaccine was “beneficial”.

“We healthcare workers don’t really have a choice. We are going to receive it,” he told the Associated Press news agency. “Some people here had already received the previous vaccine. I received it myself, because it was mandatory.”

WHO experts have said that early data on the Ervebo vaccine, notably from animal trials, suggested it could offer some protection in the current outbreak.

The virus has killed at least 3,639 and infected some 7,541 people since May. Some 1,823 people have recovered, according to the latest figures from local authorities.

The WHO said in August that 70,000 doses of Ervebo were approved for use in the DRC.

The vaccine is being used under a compassionate-use programme, which allows a medical product to be used in a serious disease situation even though it has not been specifically approved for that particular use.

While WHO officials have cited “encouraging signs” that transmission may be slowing, MSF warned on Friday that there is no clear evidence the epidemic is coming under control.

CORON, Philippines: The bodies of passengers killed in a ferry fire off the Philippines arrived at a port near the resort town of Coron, Palawan on Saturday morning, as the country’s coast guard warned the death toll of 35 would grow.

AFP watched tents being set up to accept 30 bodies brought from the M/V June Aster, which ran aground near the tourist hotspot after a fire erupted Wednesday evening and tore through the vessel “in seconds”.

Coast guard spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab told a Saturday press conference the remains would be turned over to police forensic investigators for “proper disposition and identification” before allowing local authorities to inform family members.

“Currently, we are focused on the retrieval, and after that we will proceed with the investigation,” she said, confirming the bodies had been found in the ship’s economy accommodation area.

Police investigators were seen arriving at the port shortly after the press conference ended.

Asked how many bodies remained aboard the ship, she said authorities would provide an update later in the day.

Cayabyab told AFP on Friday evening that the first transfer had been capped at 30 bodies due to the capacity of the patrol vessel transporting them and that additional cadavers remained on the ferry.

Five others had been confirmed dead in the immediate wake of the fire.

Photos released by the coast guard showed rows of body bags being placed into a small ship alongside men in hazmat suits.

Thirty passengers and 13 crew have so far been rescued, while 54 people remain unaccounted for.

On Friday, Cayabyab had told a radio station the fire had begun in the cargo hold, then tore through the ship within seconds.

“From the time that they heard the loud explosion, the appearance of smoke, and then fire. It spread very quickly,” she said of survivors’ accounts.

“Everything happened in seconds,” she said, adding that those who made it off the ship had not even had time to put on life jackets.

‘Lost hope’

Myra Cabilan told AFP she had flown to Coron to find her missing brother, 40-year-old Rammel Gonzaga, who had taken the ferry from Manila on a business trip with his brother-in-law.

“His wife had just given birth a month ago. He was so happy he was given a daughter,” Cabilan said, fighting back tears.

“At dawn, I still believed he survived. But he’s still missing. I have lost hope.”

Hundreds of people desperate for news about the incident have taken to leaving comments on the Facebook page of a local mayor, searching for relatives, friends and even a dog.

The ferry’s manifest listed 134 crew and passengers, but two had not boarded, according to the coast guard. The ferry was also carrying goods, an electric vehicle, a pickup truck, and motorcycles.

The archipelago nation of 116 million has a long history of disasters involving the inter-island ferries that ply its seas.

Many rely on cheap and poorly regulated boats and ships for transport between the country’s more than 7,000 islands, despite regular accidents.

In January, a triple-decker ferry carrying more than 340 people sank off the southern Philippines, killing at least 52 people.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 sank along nearly the same route where 31 people died in 2023 after a fire broke out aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry.

On Thursday, the company that owns the M/V June Aster, Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc, said it was fully cooperating with the investigation.