THE Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have recorded 894 confirmed cases and 204 deaths from Ebola.
Speaking during a webinar on Friday, Wessam Mankoula, acting head of the emergency preparedness and response division of the centre, said 74 recoveries were reported in the first month since the declaration on May 15.
Mankoula added that Uganda’s situation remains unchanged, with 19 cases, two deaths for a 10.5 percent case fatality rate, seven recoveries, and 100 percent contact listing, all confined to one health zone in Kampala.
He said the DRC was driving the outbreak, with Ituri Province as the epicentre, reporting 91 confirmed cases and accounting for 78 percent of all deaths recorded in the country.
“North Kivu is the most worrisome area due to insecurity limiting responder access, resulting in a high case fatality rate and the lowest contact tracing coverage among the three affected provinces,” Mankoula said.
“The outbreak is spreading rapidly, with 32 health zones now affected across the DRC and Uganda, up from three health zones in week one to 11 on May 22, 14 in week three, and 32 by week four.
“This ranks as the third-largest Ebola outbreak by total cases and deaths so far, behind only West Africa 2014 and the 2018–2019 DRC outbreak, and fourth or fifth in caseload during the first four weeks compared to the top 20 outbreaks historically.”
The acting head said cases increased by 38 percent from last week to this week, yet the geographic spread remains within the same three provinces where the outbreak began, noting that contact tracing remains critically low.
“For more than 800 confirmed cases, an estimated 17,000 to 35,000 contacts should be listed and monitored daily, but only more than 6,000 are listed, about 20 percent of the expected number,” Mankoula stated.
“Of those 6,000 listed contacts, only around 4,000 are actively followed, less than 15 percent of the contacts that should be monitored to detect new cases early.
“Without licensed vaccines or therapeutics for the Sudan strain, controlling the outbreak depends entirely on case identification, contact listing, and daily monitoring by community health workers.
“Safe and dignified burial capacity is severely lacking: only seven of the 49 required teams are deployed, seven of the 98 needed vehicles are available, and 84 of the 540 required personnel are on the ground.”
He explained that the centre declared a public health emergency of continental security on May 18, three days after the outbreak was confirmed.