KINSHASA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Six months into the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the death toll has surpassed 5,500, with hundreds of new infections still being reported each week as the virus reaches remote rural communities and escalating violence hampers efforts to contain it.
The country had recorded 11,254 confirmed cases, including 5,505 deaths, as of Nov. 12, with a case fatality rate of 48.9 percent, according to the latest situation report released Friday by the country's health authorities.
In a joint statement issued Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) and humanitarian partners warned that 400 to 500 new cases continued to be reported each week despite significant progress in controlling transmission in several early epicenters.
Children have been particularly hard hit, accounting for more than a quarter of confirmed cases and one-third of deaths. Seven in 10 infected children under five have died, the agencies said.
GAINS UNDER THREAT
At a United Nations (UN) briefing in Geneva on Friday, Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said transmission had fallen sharply in several early hotspots. Still, cases were emerging in other, mostly rural areas.
The WHO is working to bring treatment closer to hard-to-reach communities, where insecurity and poor access remain major obstacles.
According to Sunday's statement, transmission has been brought under control in several former hotspots, including Butembo and Mongbwalu. In Bunia, one of the outbreak's early epicenters, new infections have "halved," though transmission continues.
Testing capacity has expanded from two laboratories to more than two dozen, while nearly 2,000 treatment beds are available across 104 treatment and transit centers. About 3,000 patients have recovered.
However, contact tracing remains below target, and recent imported cases in Kenya and Nigeria have highlighted the risk of the virus spreading across borders.
VIOLENCE FUELS UNCERTAINTY
Insecurity has become one of the biggest threats to the response, particularly in the conflict-torn eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.
A recent armed attack in the Cantine-Aloya area of North Kivu killed 66 civilians, including three health workers, and left three health facilities looted, according to the joint statement.
The attack disrupted Ebola surveillance, leaving more than 1,000 contacts lost to follow-up and three confirmed patients unaccounted for. Another attack was reported in the area on Nov. 11.
More than 80 attacks on healthcare have been recorded since the outbreak began.
UN Senior Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis warned at Friday's briefing that violence by the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group active in eastern DRC, was now killing more people in parts of Ituri and the Kivu provinces than Ebola itself.
He identified safe contact tracing in conflict zones, closer cooperation with private healthcare providers and stronger preparedness in areas at risk of transmission as key priorities.
Harneis also warned that sustained transmission could continue until vaccines became available, making stronger surveillance and community-based response efforts essential.
LONG ROAD AHEAD
The outbreak is unfolding against a deepening humanitarian crisis, with conflict, displacement and hunger compounding the health emergency.
The World Food Program warned Friday that nearly 29 million people in the DRC faced acute food insecurity, a figure projected to climb to 30.3 million in early 2027.
Harneis said the Congolese government had recently unveiled a new 1.3-billion-U.S.-dollar Ebola response plan. Meanwhile, a separate 2.2-billion-dollar appeal launched in June was 54 percent funded, with resources unevenly distributed among response agencies.
The WHO and its partners called for sustained funding through 2027, secure humanitarian access and greater protection for frontline workers.
With candidate vaccines and treatments still under evaluation, the agencies warned that ending the outbreak would depend on reaching communities beyond the effective reach of the response, particularly in conflict-affected areas.
The outbreak has become the world's second-largest recorded Ebola epidemic, surpassed only by the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak. ■