An Ebola treatment center was burned down as the death toll in Congo passes 4,000

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Congo's Ebola outbreak has recorded more than 4,000 deaths, authorities said, as they struggle to contain the spread of the virus.

The latest figures released by the Health Ministry on Thursday showed that 4,018 people have died, making up nearly half of the 8,300 confirmed cases, in what has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history .

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine.

Some health workers gathered in Bunia, the capital of northeastern Ituri province, the heart of the outbreak. They were demanding payment for wages owed but were quickly dispersed by officials. The protesting workers included surveillance team members, who identify people exposed to infected patients. They waved placards saying, “No money, no data!” and “No payment for months.”

Front-line workers have gone on strike several times since the outbreak began, further hampering efforts to contain the disease.

A senior U.N. official said that an Ebola-hit camp housing a transit center for infected patients was burned by soldiers earlier this week as they were looking for weapons in Kigonze, on the outskirts of Bunia, forcing 19,000 people in the camp to flee.

“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 center for patients requiring treatment burned down in Ituri province,” the United Nations said.

Julien Harneis, the U.N. senior Ebola coordinator, said creating Ebola transit and treatment centers has been a struggle, requiring money and staff, all of which are in short supply.

“When we lose a center, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment, and we have to start again. And above all, it means that people do not get access to the care that they really need,” Harneis said.

An aid worker with Médecins Sans Frontières, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, was infected with Ebola while working in Congo, the group said in a statement.

The worker arrived late Thursday night after being flown to the Netherlands on a special medical flight and was transferred to a high-level isolation unit, the Leiden University Medical Center said in a statement.

“The human cost of this crisis is unprecedented in the DRC, with communities facing the largest Ebola disease outbreak ever recorded in the country,” MSF said.

More than 50 health workers have died after contracting the virus.

The World Health Organization has recently raised the alarm about the virus’ rapid spread into new health zones, stretching limited resources.

Africa CDC said in its latest news conference that the number of newly confirmed cases is falling, but that could be attributed to insecurity and challenges in getting communities to cooperate in some of the hot spots. While the spread of the disease has slowed down in some areas, it has accelerated in others, creating what experts see as a delicate situation.

Confirmed cases have slowed in recent weeks, from around 850 cases and 470 deaths a week in mid-July to an average of 490 cases and 230 deaths in September. Overall, the outbreak also saw a similar jump of 33% in both confirmed cases and deaths through September.

A Congolese politician was attacked and beaten to death earlier this week for defending government measures in dealing with the outbreak, highlighting tensions that have stretched both the health community and local resources.

The attack on Marie-Célestin Karondwa, a local official with Congo’s ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress party, took place on Sunday at his home in Butembo, an Ebola hot spot in eastern North Kivu province. His house was set on fire afterward, and he died at a hospital from his injuries.

Widespread mistrust of health workers and the authorities has hampered efforts to slow the Central African nation's 17th Ebola outbreak.

Authorities last month launched a village-centered approach, but those efforts face resistance from residents who dismiss Ebola as a hoax. There is also deep distrust in the country’s government for reasons ranging from how it’s managed past Ebola outbreaks to chronic corruption.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria