MSF warns Congo Ebola outbreak outpacing response capacity
MSF says eastern Congo's Ebola outbreak is spreading faster than any previous epidemic, demanding urgent scale-up.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has issued an urgent appeal for a massive expansion of the Ebola response in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, warning that the current outbreak is spreading faster than any other on record and is outpacing the ability of health authorities to contain it.
Trish Newport, MSF's emergency coordinator in the region, said the response has become purely reactive, leaving no room for preventive measures in unaffected areas. "We should be able to circumscribe the outbreak to go and do preventative activities all around where the outbreak has not yet started," she said. "But we don't have the capacity today."
The latest government figures, released overnight into Monday, show 4,945 cases and 2,325 deaths since the epidemic began. That makes this Congo's 17th and largest Ebola outbreak, surpassing the 2018-2020 epidemic which recorded 2,299 deaths from 3,481 cases. In the previous 24 hours alone, 101 new cases and 33 deaths were reported.
Newport drew stark comparisons with previous epidemics. "The speed and growth and spread of this outbreak is much, much bigger. It's much faster and spreads much bigger than the outbreak in 2014 or the outbreak in 2018. This is extremely concerning," she said.
The World Health Organization has said the current outbreak is on track to surpass the 2014-16 West Africa epidemic, the deadliest on record with more than 11,000 deaths.
Newport stressed that community engagement remains a critical gap. "The community needs to be aware about the outbreak. They need to be involved in the response, and they need to know what the signs and symptoms are and what to do if they get sick," she said, noting this is not happening in every area with confirmed cases.
Describing the human toll, Newport said families are arriving at treatment centres having lost up to 15 members. "We rapidly need to scale up to be able to prevent more deaths from happening, more families and communities from being impacted," she said.
Over 1,000 people have recovered from the disease, while 730 remain in hospitals or isolation facilities.