A Second Ebola Treatment Center Is Set Ablaze in Eastern Congo, with 18 Suspected Cases Fleeing
Doctors Without Borders said 18 suspected Ebola patients fled after attackers torched a treatment tent for the second time this week.
- On Friday night, unidentified people set fire to a treatment tent in Mongbwalu, Congo, operated by Doctors Without Borders, causing 18 suspected Ebola patients to escape, Dr. Richard Lokudi, director of the Mongbwalu General Reference Hospital, reported.
- Tensions regarding burial practices often lead to conflict, as seen in Rwampara on Thursday when a treatment center was burned after families were prohibited from retrieving a body. Bodies of Ebola victims remain highly contagious, fueling disputes over management.
- The World Health Organization said the outbreak now poses a "very high" risk for Congo, up from a previous "high" classification, with 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths reported as surveillance expands.
- Authorities banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people on Friday to curb virus spread. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies confirmed three volunteers died from the outbreak in Mongbwalu.
- Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized that building community trust remains essential to the response. Sanitation workers in Bunia, Ituri, continue disinfecting public markets to combat spread.
85 Articles
85 Articles
A second Ebola treatment center is set ablaze in eastern Congo
In an alarming escalation of tensions surrounding the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, unidentified assailants set fire to a medical treatment tent for the second time this week, allowing 18 suspected cases to escape into the local population. According to a report from The Associated Press, the latest attack occurred Friday night at a clinic […]
Second Congo Ebola Treatment Tent Burned In Burial Clash, Escalating Community Transmission Risk
An Ebola treatment tent operated by Doctors Without Borders in eastern Congo has been burned by residents, the second such attack in one week. The facility in Mongbwalu managed patients infected with the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola strain. No casualties were reported in the attack. However, 18 patients suspected of carrying the virus fled the burning structure and remain unaccounted for, raising concerns about further community transmission. …
The angry residents of a city located in the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) attacked and set fire to a tent that was part of a medical center where people are treated for the deadly virus, said the staff there on Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region this week. No one was injured in the attack, according to initial information, but as patients fled to escape the fire, 18 people s…
Bodies of those who have died from Ebola can be highly infectious, and funerals pose a high risk of further spreading the disease.
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