Nurse Killed and Health Worker Hurt in Attack on Ebola Response Team in Congo, WHO Says
The World Health Organization said a nurse was killed and a health worker was seriously injured when they were attacked Saturday while responding to an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, in eastern Congo, as Uganda ordered a 21-day quarantine for citizens returning from Congo.
A nurse was killed and a health worker was seriously injured when they were attacked Saturday while responding to an Ebola alert in the town of Bafwasende, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern Tshopo province, the World Health Organization said. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported the attack late Sunday.
“Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety,” Tedros wrote on X. The attack comes as response teams work to contain an outbreak that Congolese health authorities have called the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country’s history.
Cases pass 9,700
The WHO said the outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus had reached 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in Congo, in an update dated October 23 based on data through October 20. The cases cover 66 health zones in eight provinces, and the agency put the case fatality ratio at 48.3 percent, with 2,595 patients recovered.
Ituri remains the worst-affected province, the WHO said. Of 482 deaths added since the previous update, 307 occurred in communities rather than in treatment centers, a sign that many patients are not reaching care. Contact follow-up in Congo stood at 79.7 percent, below the WHO target of 95 percent.
There are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for Bundibugyo virus disease, the WHO said. A Phase 2/3 vaccine trial known as TUMAINI began in Bunia on October 23, according to the agency. The WHO’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said the outbreak picture had grown more complex, and Africa CDC has called the situation an extremely serious threat.
Uganda tightens border rules
Uganda said Sunday that citizens returning with a history of travel to Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced. The ministry has stepped up screening at Entebbe International Airport and all land border crossings, and travelers entering Uganda by air, land or water must complete a passenger locator form.
Uganda says it is Ebola-free after declaring an end to its latest outbreak in July, but concern grew after two people who had passed through the country later tested positive in Kenya and Nigeria. Baryomunsi said all 60 contacts linked to a Kenyan Ebola case had completed 21 days of monitoring and been discharged.
Kenya has confirmed nine cases, including one death, the WHO said, with eight of them secondary cases linked to a single imported patient. Kenyan authorities traced and quarantined all 135 contacts of that patient, and more than 709,000 travelers had been screened by October 22. Nigeria reported its first case, an imported infection in Abuja, on October 20.
The WHO said it is revising its global risk assessment after cases appeared in Kenya and Nigeria, and it continues to advise against restrictions on travel to or trade with affected countries. The outbreak was declared in mid-May and remains a public health emergency of international concern.
Reporting based on coverage by The Business Standard and Aalimi Nation.
