Daijiworld Media Network - Kinshasa

Kinshasa, May 18: Democratic Republic of the Congo has opened three treatment centres in the Ituri region amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba announced during a visit to the affected area.

Speaking in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, Kamba said hospitals in the region were already under pressure due to the rising number of patients.

“We know that the hospitals are already under stress because of the patients. But we are preparing to have treatment centres at all three sites in order to be able to expand our capabilities,” he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths were reported in Congo, along with two deaths in neighbouring Uganda.

Although the outbreak is mainly centred in Ituri province, cases have also been reported in Kinshasa and Goma.

In a statement posted on X, the WHO Regional Office for Africa said a team of 35 experts from WHO and Congo’s health ministry had arrived in Bunia with seven tonnes of emergency medical supplies and equipment.

Ebola is a highly contagious disease spread through bodily fluids such as blood, vomit and semen. The disease is rare but often severe and fatal.

WHO’s emergency declaration is aimed at mobilising donor agencies and countries for coordinated international action to contain the outbreak and prevent further spread.

Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed concern over the situation.

“Currently I’m on panic mode because people are dying, I don’t have medicines, I don’t have vaccine to support countries,” he told Sky News, adding that efforts were underway to secure candidate vaccines and medicines in the coming weeks.

Health authorities said the current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain of Ebola for which no approved vaccines or treatments are currently available.

Though Congo and Uganda have witnessed more than 20 Ebola outbreaks in the past, this is only the third time the Bundibugyo strain has been detected.

The virus was first identified in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district during the 2007-08 outbreak, which infected 149 people and claimed 37 lives. The second outbreak occurred in Isiro in Congo in 2012, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were recorded.