Congo Ebola cases top 10,000 as fears of wider spread grow
Government figures show 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths in Congo's worst-ever outbreak, with cases now reported in Kenya and Nigeria.
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen above 10,000, government data showed on Tuesday, a milestone that has sharpened fears the epidemic could spread further across Africa.
The latest situation report from Congo's public health institute put the number of cases at 10,060, with 4,887 people killed by the virus. The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, was announced in mid-May. It has since become the largest and deadliest ever recorded in Congo, overtaking the 2018-2020 epidemic, according to CNA.
Only one outbreak on record has been worse: the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed over 11,000, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The virus has already crossed borders. Earlier this month Kenya reported its first case, going on to announce nine in total after a man who had travelled from Congo via Uganda died in Nairobi. Last week Nigeria became the fourth African country to confirm a case, as Wide World News has reported. Health officials there are still trying to establish how and where the patient - the wife of a Swiss diplomat, who had not travelled to Congo - contracted the disease. The Swiss government said she was believed to have caught it in Uganda. The woman and her husband were flown to hospitals in Switzerland on Monday.
Uganda, which recorded 20 cases in May and June, mostly imported from Congo, was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization in August. Ugandan officials say the country has no cases. Its health minister said on Sunday that Ugandan citizens returning home with a history of travel to Congo would be quarantined for 21 days.
For now, governments around the region are watching Congo's daily figures and their own borders. Health workers and travellers alike are waiting to see whether quarantines, vaccinations and tracing can hold the outbreak inside Congo, or whether the numbers in Nairobi and Abuja are the first sign of something wider.
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