‘I’m on panic mode’, says health official as Ebola outbreak declared public health emergency | World News

A senior health official says he is in “panic mode” because of an Ebola outbreak linked to 88 suspected deaths, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a “public health emergency of international concern”.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said 336 suspected Ebola cases have been recorded, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but also two in Uganda.

Africa CDC director-general, Dr Jean Kaseya, told Sky News the fatality rate is higher with this strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine.

“Currently, I’m on panic mode because people are dying. I don’t have medicines. I don’t have [a] vaccine to support countries,” he said.

In Uganda’s capital, Kampala, two apparently unrelated laboratory-confirmed cases, including one death, were reported on Friday and Saturday, from people travelling from the DRC, the WHO said.

The Ugandan health ministry said the cases were “imported” from the DRC and the body of the patient who died in Kampala was later taken back to the DRC.

The WHO said the focus of the outbreak is in the remote Ituri province of the country across at least three health zones, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.

Dr Kaseya also told Sky News: “We have some candidate vaccine[s], some candidate medicines… We hope that we can have something in the next coming weeks.

“Western countries, they don’t understand that when Africa is affected, they are also at risk because people are flying every day.”

The WHO has said the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency, like COVID-19, and advised against the closure of international borders.

But Africa CDC has raised concerns about the risk of further spread of the disease due to the proximity of affected areas to neighbouring Uganda and South Sudan.

The agency also warned of an “active community transmission” as health workers raced to intensify screening and contact tracing to contain the disease.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said the suspected initial case in the current outbreak is a nurse who died at a hospital in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, in April.

Via a translator, he said: “People in the community said it was witchcraft or things like that… We realised that the first person fell ill in late April and died on April 24th in Bunia, and the body was repatriated to the Mongwalu health zone.

“It was the return of this body to the Mongwalu health zone, which is a mining area with a large population, that caused the Ebola outbreak to escalate.”

Africa CDC said ongoing attacks by Islamic State-backed militants are restricting surveillance and rapid response operations in Ituri.

DRC has experienced 17 Ebola outbreaks since the disease was first identified in the country in 1976.

One of the deadliest outbreaks, between 2018 and 2020 in eastern Congo, killed more than 2,000 people.

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The country’s eastern regions are also facing ongoing violence involving armed groups, including the M23 rebel movement and the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Force, complicating efforts to contain the disease.

Dr Gabriel Nsakala, a public health professor involved in previous Ebola responses in DRC, said the country had extensive experience dealing with outbreaks but warned rapid action would be essential.

“In terms of training, people already know what they can do,” he said. “Now, the expertise and equipment need to be delivered quickly.”