Chilling Ebola update as responders now 'catching up' with deadly epidemic

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the fast-moving Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda was outpacing response efforts, as he provided the world with a stark update on Monday. At a press conference earlier today, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of suspected deaths has risen to 220.

The number of suspected cases has hit 900. Ghebreyesus said that delays in identifying Ebola cases meant responders were now “playing catch-up” and warned the outbreak was likely to get worse before it gets better. Ghebreyesus, along with another senior WHO official responsible for addressing health emergencies, will make the journey to Congo tomorrow, May 26. Earlier today Uganda reported two more Ebola cases, bringing its total infections to seven, with one death being recorded.

The patients are receiving treatment and people they have been in contact with are being traced, the health ministry said.

Issuing a stark warning Ghebreyesus said countries bordering Congo are at high risk and should take immediate action.

WHO has classified the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern.

Ghebreyesus said efforts to contain the fast moving outbreak are being hindered by instability in Congo’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces, as well as the absence of an approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus. This strain has no approved therapeutics or vaccines.

WHO has previously said it could take up to nine months for a vaccine to be ready.

The Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, spread undetected for weeks in the Ituri province in the country after the first known death, as authorities were testing for a more common Ebola virus, which was coming up negative.

Last week WHO acknowledged that the Ebola outbreak began “a couple of months ago”, after facing sharp criticism from the US.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, claimed that the United Nations agency had been “a little late” in detecting the deadly disease.

At a WHO press conference last Wednesday, May 20, a reporter asked how long Ebola had been spreading before it was detected and whether the organisation had any response to criticism from Rubio.

Anais Legand, an Academic Researcher from WHO, replied: “Investigations are ongoing to assert when and where exactly this outbreak started, given the scale we are thinking it started probably a couple of months ago.

“But the investigation is ongoing and our priority is to cut the transmission chain.”