Major Ebola outbreak warning as ‘we cannot afford to have more people dying’

The world’s top medical experts have warned we are facing too many deaths from Ebola as deaths related to the the deadly disease hit 220. The United States has responded with a surge of resources

A major Ebola outbreak in has spooked medics as the number of countries impacted escalated. Africa’s second largest battle with the deadly disease has already claimed the lives of 220, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

The spread of the infection is believed to have started in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where doctors are dealing with 900 suspected cases. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the risk level of 11 African countries on Monday.

The countries now facing the deadly disease include South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, Congo, Burundi and Somalia. “This is too much. We cannot afford to have more Africans dying,” Africa CDC Director General Dr. Jean Kaseya said during a ministerial briefing.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: “But we know the epidemic in the (Democratic Republic of Congo) is much larger.”

The United States has responded with a surge of resources sent to the region. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mignon Houston said: “We have mobilized over $23 million the DRC, Uganda, also to South Sudan. These funds are to support monitoring, detection, response efforts. All hands really are on deck.”

It comes as health workers on the front line of the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are coming under attack as cases in the country race towards 1,000. Authorities in the war-torn country say suspected cases have now passed 900 in the east of the nation.

The Ituri Province has been the most affected area of the crisis, which has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation.

The country’s already-stretched health service is struggling to contain the outbreak as short-staffed hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. And repeated arson attacks on treatment centres have made their job even harder.

An angry mob set fire to one hospital at the epicentre of the outbreak of new sub-strain of the virus last week. Police fired warning shots at the crowd, who had thrown missiles at the Rwampara General Hospital and set fire to tents being used as isolation ward.

The trouble is said to have been sparked when family and friends of a young man thought to have died from the virus were prevented from taking his body away for burial.

Ebola victim’s bodies are still highly infectious and the authorities need to ensure safe burial to stop the spread of the virus. Medical workers at the Rwampara hospital were placed under military protection as the police moved in to restore order.