UN Sees Some Ebola Progress in Eastern Congo, but Warns It’s Too Soon to Declare Peak
GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) — United Nations officials said Tuesday that efforts to contain Ebola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are starting to produce results in some areas, but they cautioned that the outbreak remains “massive” and will take months to bring fully under control.
“It remains a deadly and a massive epidemic. There are some areas of progress, but nonetheless, in other areas, we continue to see growth in cases,” Julien Harneis, the U.N. special Ebola coordinator, told a Geneva press briefing.
The outbreak is the second-deadliest on record, trailing only the West African epidemic that lasted from 2014 to 2016. In eastern Congo, the response has unfolded in a region long troubled by armed conflict, population displacement and difficult terrain, factors that have repeatedly hampered efforts to trace contacts, isolate patients and deliver care.
Asked about reports that the epidemic had reached a turning point, Olivier le Polain of the World Health Organization said, “It’s too early to confidently say we have passed a peak.”
“It will take many, many months to get this outbreak under control fully, and it will require significant support,” he said.
Congo minister points to ‘encouraging signs’
On Saturday, Congo Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said there were “encouraging signs” in the fight against Ebola since “the peak reached in mid-August,” and that transmission “has been gradually slowing down.”
He said daily new cases had fallen from about 120 at the peak of the epidemic to around 80, and that 10 of the 62 affected health zones had gone more than 22 days without a new case.
“To me, these figures are a positive sign. They demonstrate that the efforts deployed on the ground are yielding results and that our response strategy is beginning to bend the transmission curve,” he said. “However, we must remain fully mobilised. While these results are encouraging, they must not lead us to lower our guard.”
Government figures published Tuesday put the cumulative toll at 7,258 confirmed cases and 3,510 deaths across seven provinces.
Situation remains ‘alarming’ in North Kivu
U.N. officials said Tuesday they were seeing progress in parts of Ituri, which remains the most affected province, and that the outbreak is now “under control” in some areas. But they said cases are still rising quickly in North Kivu, particularly in the city of Butembo.
“It’s such a vast epidemic that it’s difficult to talk about one epidemic, but there’s rather many different locations,” Harneis said.
Le Polain, head of epidemiology and analytics for response at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, warned that past outbreaks have shown early improvement only to flare again.
“We know from past experience that an epidemic can show early signs of improvement and then pick up again quite quickly,” he said.
Aid workers say more needs to be done to curb transmission in North Kivu.
“The situation in North Kivu, with its very complex security situation, high population density and mobility, is alarming,” said Thomas Paerisch, a public health specialist recently deployed to Democratic Republic of Congo with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
North Kivu is the second most affected province, with a cumulative 1,269 confirmed cases as of Sept. 12, including 555 reported in the previous 21 days.
The mixed picture underscores the challenge facing responders: gains in some communities do not mean the virus is beaten, especially where insecurity and mobility limit access.
Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Clement Bonnerot; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Miranda Murray, Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens.