WHO chief visits DR Congo Ebola epicentre as cases top 1,000 and deaths rise

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Bunia, the capital of DR Congo's Ituri province, on Saturday to assess the response to a rapidly growing Ebola outbreak and call for greater international support.

At least 1,077 suspected cases and 246 deaths have been recorded in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The outbreak has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections and one death have been recorded.

What did the WHO chief say about the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo?

Tedros said the international community was already helping the DRC government, but called for greater financial support and stronger community involvement to contain the spread.

He said overcoming mistrust and false information was essential to the response. "If we do our best, it can be stopped," he told people in Ituri at a press conference.

Why is the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo so difficult to contain?

The outbreak is centred in eastern DRC provinces that have experienced near-continuous conflict for three decades. State services are largely absent in Ituri, and armed groups restrict access for health workers.

The WHO has warned that the true scale of the outbreak is likely much wider than confirmed figures suggest, given the country's limited laboratory testing capacity.

Nearly a million displaced people are living in camps in Ituri province under poor hygiene conditions, raising alarm that the virus could spread rapidly through the population.

Doctors Without Borders said the outbreak has recorded more cases in its early days than any previous Ebola epidemic. The charity also warned that not enough medical experts have been deployed to the affected region.

Is there a vaccine for the strain of Ebola behind this outbreak?

No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, driving the current outbreak. The head of CDC Africa said on Thursday that a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year.

The WHO said on Saturday that several candidate vaccines were considered promising enough to warrant clinical trials, while stressing that existing tools such as contact tracing, rapid testing and isolation remained the priority in the meantime.

Has the outbreak spread beyond DR Congo?

Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and imposed a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country. Nine confirmed Ebola cases have been recorded in Uganda, resulting in one death.

On Friday, the WHO announced the first patient recovery in the current outbreak, after a confirmed carrier was discharged following two negative tests.