KINSHASA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing renewed operational challenges in Ituri Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, where a treatment center was temporarily shut Thursday due to a strike, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the epidemic, already the second-largest on record, could last up to 12 months under a worst-case scenario.
The Ebola treatment center in Nizi, Djugu territory, was not operating Thursday morning after response workers went on strike over unpaid wages, according to local sources.
In a statement read outside the center, the workers said they were owed three months' salary arrears and called on authorities to settle the payments so that normal operations could resume.
Local civil society groups warned that a prolonged work stoppage could seriously affect outbreak response efforts, as Ituri continues to account for the vast majority of cases and deaths reported nationwide.
The strike in Nizi comes amid persistent discontent among some response workers in Ituri, who say that despite repeated consultations and government pledges, outstanding payments have yet to be fully resolved.
In a recent interview with local media, DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba said the government had mobilized 50 million U.S. dollars for the Ebola response, part of which had already been allocated to different areas of the operation. He said the remaining 19 million dollars would be used in part to register and pay doctors and nurses involved in the response.
According to the latest situation report from the DRC's health authorities, released Wednesday and covering data through Tuesday, the country had recorded 4,566 confirmed cases, including 2,128 deaths. Five provinces -- Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo -- remain affected.
Ituri remains by far the hardest-hit province, with 28 of its 36 health zones having reported cases. According to the WHO, about 90 percent of confirmed cases and 80 percent of deaths have been reported in Ituri, where sustained transmission continues.
The WHO warned Wednesday that the outbreak had become the second-largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded and was spreading faster than any previous Ebola outbreak.
"It's already the second-biggest Ebola epidemic on record, and it's moving faster than any previous Ebola outbreak," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva. "At its current rate, it's on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016", he warned.
The outbreak in West Africa, declared over in 2016, recorded more than 28,600 cases, according to the WHO.
Tedros also said a high proportion of deaths continue to occur in communities rather than treatment centers, while many new cases are being detected outside known contact lists, indicating that some transmission chains remain unidentified.
Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO director for health emergency alert and response operations, said response planning is currently based on a moderate six-month scenario.
"There's a worst-case scenario where this outbreak may last nine months to 12 months," Mahamud said, adding that every effort was being made to shorten the duration of the outbreak.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said investigations so far suggest the virus may have been circulating for two to three months before the outbreak was formally detected, although the exact start of transmission remains under investigation.
The outbreak, caused by Bundibugyo virus, was declared on May 15. ■
